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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. rush — hurry
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. bulb — for light
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. kick — in football
  8. clip — a video
  9. file — a line of people
  10. drill — the tool
  11. last — final
  12. drill — army training
  13. pound — a weight
  14. drill — a practice
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. last — to go on
  17. clip — to cut
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. last — finally
  21. file — a document
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bulb — for light

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