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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: bark · wind · chair · swing · bulb · roll · hide · file

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  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. hide — to keep secret
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. swing — to play on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. bulb — for light
  7. wind — moving air
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. roll — a list
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bark — to shout
  12. swing — in golf
  13. file — a line of people
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. file — a document
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. swing — music
  22. roll — a cake
  23. wind — to turn a key
  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