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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. prune — to trim
  3. chest — a box
  4. file — a document
  5. chest — of your body
  6. track — a song
  7. cell — a phone
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. file — a line of people
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cell — in biology
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. track — a path
  16. chest — of your body
  17. game — a match
  18. file — a tool
  19. prune — to trim
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. game — wild animals
  22. rush — hurry
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. fork — in a road

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