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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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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: band · ruler · file · rule · bark · chest · snap · lean

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  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. lean — thin
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. chest — of your body
  5. rule — government
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. file — a tool
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. band — a ring
  10. chest — a box
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. band — a music group
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. file — a line of people
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. snap — to click
  18. lean — to bend
  19. bark — to shout
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. rule — a law
  23. chest — of your body
  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