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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: chest · land · root · bowl · file · cell · bark · saw

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. saw — the tool
  3. file — a line of people
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. land — to come down
  6. file — a document
  7. root — of a word
  8. chest — of your body
  9. land — ground
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. root — the cause
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. file — a tool
  17. chest — a box
  18. root — of a plant
  19. bark — to shout
  20. cell — in biology
  21. saw — the tool
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. land — a country

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