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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. staff — employees
  4. band — a ring
  5. staff — a stick
  6. file — a line of people
  7. bound — obliged
  8. court — for sport
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. perch — the fish
  12. field — for sport
  13. kick — in football
  14. file — a document
  15. court — of law
  16. bound — certain
  17. bound — tied together
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. band — a music group
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — a subject
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. court — of a king
  24. staff — employees

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