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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. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  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. jam — a tight spot
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. kid — to tease
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. chest — of your body
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. file — a line of people
  13. bark — to shout
  14. date — the fruit
  15. kid — child
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. chest — of your body
  19. file — a tool
  20. saw — the tool
  21. chest — a box
  22. saw — the tool
  23. shower — rain
  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