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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. current — happening now
  3. current — of water
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. bark — to shout
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a document
  9. rush — hurry
  10. hand — in cards
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. last — to go on
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. last — final
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. file — a line of people
  17. current — electric
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. last — finally

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com