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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. file — a tool
  3. degree — from a university
  4. file — a document
  5. cold — an illness
  6. club — for golf
  7. club — a group
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. degree — an amount
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. prune — to trim
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — not warm
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. tear — to rip
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. pass — a permit
  19. date — the fruit
  20. degree — temperature
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. club — for dancing
  24. tear — from crying

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