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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. drill — army training
  3. file — a document
  4. drill — the tool
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. game — a match
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. pit — in a race
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. pitch — completely
  13. file — a tool
  14. pit — a hole
  15. drill — a practice
  16. bark — to shout
  17. mine — for digging
  18. file — a line of people
  19. game — wild animals
  20. fork — in a road
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. pitch — a sports field

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