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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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. fine — all right
  3. drill — the tool
  4. object — an aim
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. last — to go on
  7. file — a tool
  8. spring — the season
  9. drill — army training
  10. fine — high quality
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. file — a line of people
  13. last — final
  14. wound — an injury
  15. file — a document
  16. last — finally
  17. drill — a practice
  18. spring — of water
  19. prune — to trim
  20. prune — to trim
  21. object — to protest
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. spring — a coil

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