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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. ground — crushed
  3. kid — to tease
  4. ground — a position
  5. perch — the fish
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. ground — the earth
  8. kid — child
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. rest — a break
  11. band — a ring
  12. band — a music group
  13. land — ground
  14. cap — of ice
  15. land — to come down
  16. cap — a hat
  17. rest — what's left
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. file — a tool
  20. land — a country
  21. cap — a lid
  22. rest — what's left
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. file — a document

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