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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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Word bank
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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: kid · bark · cell · file · capital · scale

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. cell — in biology
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. kid — child
  5. file — a tool
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. capital — a city
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. scale — in music
  10. cell — a phone
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. kid — to tease
  14. file — a line of people
  15. capital — money
  16. file — a document
  17. scale — size or range
  18. capital — a big letter

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