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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 116 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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. bear — the animal
  3. last — final
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. bark — to shout
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. cold — not warm
  8. race — humankind
  9. cold — an illness
  10. rest — what's left
  11. last — finally
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. land — ground
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. land — a country
  17. file — a tool
  18. bear — the animal
  19. rest — a break
  20. rest — what's left
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. race — the arms race
  23. land — to come down
  24. race — a contest

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