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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. file — a line of people
  3. track — to keep track
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. track — a path
  6. track — a song
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. scale — size or range
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. file — a document
  14. root — of a word
  15. pit — in a race
  16. root — the cause
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. file — a tool
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. root — of a plant
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pit — a hole

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