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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. race — the arms race
  4. tear — from crying
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. file — a document
  12. tear — to rip
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. mine — for digging
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. fork — in a road
  19. tear — from crying
  20. race — a contest
  21. file — a line of people
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. race — humankind
  24. shower — rain

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