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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cell · key · pitcher · mine · bark · kid · file · spring

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. spring — the season
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. mine — for digging
  5. file — a tool
  6. bark — to shout
  7. key — in music
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. spring — of water
  10. cell — a phone
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. kid — child
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. file — a document
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. file — a line of people
  20. key — the most important part
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. key — for a lock

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