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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. band — a ring
  3. file — a line of people
  4. band — a music group
  5. track — a path
  6. track — to keep track
  7. snap — to click
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. file — a tool
  10. pitch — completely
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — an amount
  14. rule — a law
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. track — a song
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. degree — from a university
  21. file — a document
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. rule — government
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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