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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. file — a tool
  3. rest — a break
  4. bark — to shout
  5. field — farmland
  6. rush — hurry
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. game — wild animals
  9. band — a ring
  10. game — a match
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. field — for sport
  13. file — a document
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. field — a subject
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. rest — what's left
  19. rest — what's left
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. band — a music group
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. file — a line of people

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