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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. file — a document
  3. drill — army training
  4. net — in sport
  5. pound — a weight
  6. ground — the earth
  7. drill — a practice
  8. cold — not warm
  9. saw — the tool
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. file — a line of people
  12. ground — crushed
  13. net — for catching
  14. cold — an illness
  15. ground — a position
  16. net — after costs
  17. saw — the tool
  18. scale — in music
  19. drill — the tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. scale — size or range
  24. file — a tool

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