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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. cold — an illness
  3. swing — to play on
  4. drill — a practice
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. swing — in golf
  10. swing — music
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. prune — to trim
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. bear — the animal
  17. file — a line of people
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. file — a tool
  21. bear — the animal
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. drill — the tool
  24. drill — army training

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