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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  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. bark — of a tree
  2. suit — in cards
  3. file — a line of people
  4. rest — a break
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. suit — to fit
  7. wind — moving air
  8. row — a line
  9. clip — a video
  10. suit — clothes
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. scale — in music
  16. wind — moving air
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut
  19. rest — what's left
  20. scale — size or range
  21. rest — what's left
  22. row — to paddle
  23. file — a tool
  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