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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. kid — child
  3. bark — to shout
  4. capital — money
  5. kid — to tease
  6. field — farmland
  7. pass — a permit
  8. craft — boats
  9. field — a subject
  10. face — part of the head
  11. capital — a city
  12. file — a line of people
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. craft — a skill
  16. face — to point toward
  17. face — to confront
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. field — for sport
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. file — a document

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