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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: wound · land · hand · bark · chair · bass · file · current

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — help
  3. land — ground
  4. wound — an injury
  5. current — electric
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. bass — the fish
  8. file — a tool
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. current — of water
  11. file — a document
  12. bass — low music
  13. land — a country
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. file — a line of people
  17. land — to come down
  18. bark — to shout
  19. hand — in cards
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. chair — a leader
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. current — happening now

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