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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. scale — size or range
  3. spell — letters
  4. spring — of water
  5. file — a document
  6. spring — the season
  7. spell — a short time
  8. bark — to shout
  9. file — a tool
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. land — a country
  12. land — ground
  13. stock — goods
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. scale — in music
  17. stock — shares
  18. pitch — completely
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. spell — magic
  21. land — to come down
  22. file — a line of people
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. stock — a soup base

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