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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. march — the month
  3. file — a line of people
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — magic
  6. file — a document
  7. kid — child
  8. cap — a lid
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. cap — a hat
  11. track — to keep track
  12. track — a song
  13. mine — for digging
  14. march — the month
  15. kid — to tease
  16. spell — letters
  17. march — music
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. pound — a weight
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. file — a tool
  23. track — a path
  24. cap — of ice

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