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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 water is too ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. craft — boats
  4. file — a tool
  5. track — to keep track
  6. rest — a break
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. track — a path
  10. mark — a trace
  11. file — a document
  12. rest — what's left
  13. scale — in music
  14. craft — a skill
  15. bark — to shout
  16. file — a line of people
  17. scale — size or range
  18. track — a song
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. mark — a grade
  22. rest — what's left
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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