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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 120 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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. sharp — clever
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. land — a country
  6. file — a document
  7. hand — help
  8. land — to come down
  9. degree — from a university
  10. mate — a partner
  11. pit — a hole
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. degree — an amount
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. mate — to breed
  17. land — ground
  18. bark — to shout
  19. hand — in cards
  20. mate — a friend
  21. degree — temperature
  22. file — a tool
  23. pit — in a race
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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