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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  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. cold — an illness
  3. march — music
  4. bark — to shout
  5. file — a document
  6. file — a line of people
  7. net — after costs
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. march — the month
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rest — a break
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. net — for catching
  14. rest — what's left
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. foot — a measure
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. net — in sport
  19. march — the month
  20. rash — a series
  21. file — a tool
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rash — on the skin
  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