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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. file — a tool
  4. row — a line
  5. march — the month
  6. bulb — for light
  7. march — music
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — to paddle
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. bulb — for light
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. perch — the fish
  14. date — the fruit
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. march — the month
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. pass — a permit
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. file — a document

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