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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. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — a stone
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wind — moving air
  4. file — a line of people
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wind — moving air
  9. file — a tool
  10. mine — for digging
  11. file — a document
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. tube — the underground
  14. degree — from a university
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — an amount
  22. rock — music
  23. bark — to shout
  24. degree — temperature

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