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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: drill · saw · shower · wind · rest · bark · file · stock

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. bark — to shout
  2. stock — shares
  3. saw — the tool
  4. stock — goods
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. saw — the tool
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. drill — army training
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rest — a break
  16. drill — a practice
  17. wind — moving air
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a tool
  20. drill — the tool
  21. rest — what's left
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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