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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. mate — a friend
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mate — to breed
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. bore — to drill
  7. tear — to rip
  8. bear — the animal
  9. clip — to cut
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bore — to tire
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. file — a document
  14. mate — a partner
  15. clip — a video
  16. drill — army training
  17. bear — the animal
  18. land — to come down
  19. tear — from crying
  20. land — a country
  21. tear — from crying
  22. drill — a practice
  23. land — ground
  24. drill — the tool

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