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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. season — of the year
  3. file — a line of people
  4. land — ground
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. branch — a division
  7. fine — all right
  8. land — to come down
  9. hand — in cards
  10. content — the amount
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. kid — child
  13. content — happy
  14. fine — high quality
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. kid — to tease
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. land — a country
  21. hand — help
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. file — a document
  24. season — in sport

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