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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. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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. file — a document
  2. field — for sport
  3. field — a subject
  4. bound — obliged
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. object — to protest
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. object — a thing
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. object — an aim
  12. bound — certain
  13. snap — to click
  14. dip — to sink
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. race — a contest
  17. field — farmland
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bound — tied together
  20. saw — the tool
  21. file — a tool
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  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