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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 120 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: bark · cell · spring · band · rule · shower · file · stand

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. cell — a phone
  3. file — a document
  4. spring — the season
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. rule — a law
  7. shower — to wash
  8. cell — in biology
  9. band — a ring
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. file — a tool
  13. stand — to bear
  14. rule — government
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. spring — of water
  19. file — a line of people
  20. band — a music group
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. shower — rain

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