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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. lean — to bend
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. march — the month
  5. march — the month
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. wind — moving air
  8. drill — a practice
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. branch — a division
  13. file — a tool
  14. drill — army training
  15. bear — the animal
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. lean — thin
  20. bear — the animal
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wind — moving air
  23. march — music
  24. perch — the fish

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