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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: net · cold · bark · drill · fall · tube · rash · file

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. file — a line of people
  3. bark — to shout
  4. file — a tool
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. rash — a series
  7. tube — the underground
  8. drill — the tool
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. fall — to drop
  13. tube — a container
  14. net — after costs
  15. rash — hasty
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. fall — to drop
  18. drill — a practice
  19. file — a document
  20. fall — the season
  21. net — in sport
  22. drill — army training
  23. net — for catching
  24. cold — the Cold War

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