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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: club · race · rest · bark · pop · file

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. club — for dancing
  3. pop — music
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. race — the arms race
  6. rest — what's left
  7. race — a contest
  8. pop — to visit
  9. file — a line of people
  10. rest — what's left
  11. club — a group
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bark — to shout
  14. file — a document
  15. club — for golf
  16. race — humankind
  17. pop — soda
  18. rest — a break

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