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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: chair · current · mine · march · last · bark · coach · file

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. current — electric
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. march — the month
  6. mine — for digging
  7. chair — a leader
  8. last — final
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. march — music
  12. current — of water
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. last — to go on
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. current — happening now
  17. bark — to shout
  18. file — a tool
  19. last — finally
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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