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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 116 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: bat · row · file · bark · wind · pitcher · race · ground

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. bark — to shout
  4. bat — the animal
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. wind — moving air
  7. race — humankind
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. row — to paddle
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. race — the arms race
  12. ground — a position
  13. file — a document
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. wind — moving air
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. race — a contest
  18. file — a tool
  19. ground — crushed
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — a line
  22. ground — the earth
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bat — in an idiom

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