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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. cell — a phone
  4. kid — to tease
  5. lean — thin
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. plane — a tool
  8. track — a song
  9. branch — a division
  10. file — a line of people
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. cell — in biology
  13. rash — hasty
  14. lean — to bend
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. file — a tool
  17. track — to keep track
  18. kid — child
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. file — a document
  22. rash — a series
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. track — a path

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