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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 116 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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. rock — a stone
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. mine — for digging
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. file — a line of people
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. plane — a tool
  12. rock — music
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. sharp — clever
  15. rash — hasty
  16. bark — to shout
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. rash — a series
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a tool

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