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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. mine — for digging
  3. file — a document
  4. bark — to shout
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. cold — not warm
  9. file — a tool
  10. wound — an injury
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. file — a line of people
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. wound — an injury
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. pitch — completely
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. sharp — clever

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