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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 120 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. ball — a great time
  3. file — a line of people
  4. capital — money
  5. band — a ring
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. rule — a law
  8. band — a music group
  9. ball — a dance
  10. row — a line
  11. bark — to shout
  12. file — a document
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. capital — a city
  16. stock — goods
  17. row — to paddle
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. stock — shares
  23. file — a tool
  24. rule — to rule out

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