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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: object · rash · bowl · bark · wind · straw · swing · file

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. object — a thing
  4. object — to protest
  5. object — an aim
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — in golf
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. rash — a series
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. file — a line of people
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. file — a document
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. bark — to shout
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. swing — music
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. file — a tool

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