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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 120 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: chest · mine · file · bore · kid · bark · track · stock

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. file — a tool
  3. kid — to tease
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bark — to shout
  8. track — a song
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. mine — for digging
  14. track — a path
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bore — to tire
  17. file — a document
  18. kid — child
  19. file — a line of people
  20. stock — shares
  21. bore — to drill
  22. chest — a box
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. stock — goods

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