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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. kid — to tease
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. file — a tool
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. kid — child
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. foot — a measure
  9. swing — in golf
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. sharp — clever
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. march — the month
  16. swing — to play on
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. march — the month
  20. branch — a division
  21. swing — music
  22. file — a document
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. file — a line of people

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