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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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468
Word bank
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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. last — to go on
  3. kid — to tease
  4. drill — army training
  5. drill — the tool
  6. file — a line of people
  7. cold — an illness
  8. last — final
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. file — a document
  11. kid — child
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. drill — a practice
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. last — finally
  19. chair — a leader
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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