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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: hand · charge · date · rush · bark · file · spell · row

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The tickets are free of ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. hand — help
  4. rush — hurry
  5. charge — electricity
  6. spell — a short time
  7. date — the fruit
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a line of people
  10. hand — in cards
  11. charge — in control
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. spell — magic
  15. file — a document
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. bark — to shout
  20. spell — letters
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. charge — a price
  23. row — to paddle
  24. date — on the calendar

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