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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 116 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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. land — to come down
  4. last — final
  5. club — for golf
  6. file — a tool
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bark — to shout
  11. club — for dancing
  12. shower — rain
  13. file — a line of people
  14. sharp — clever
  15. land — a country
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. club — a group
  18. file — a document
  19. shower — to wash
  20. land — ground
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. last — finally
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. vault — a safe

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