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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 120 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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. spell — letters
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. fine — all right
  5. rash — hasty
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. bank — for money
  8. wound — an injury
  9. spell — magic
  10. pop — to visit
  11. bank — of a river
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. rash — a series
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pop — music
  16. bank — for money
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. spell — a short time
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a tool
  21. pop — soda
  22. mine — for digging
  23. file — a line of people
  24. fine — a penalty

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