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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: fall · kid · bark · club · capital · stick · pop · file

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. file — a line of people
  3. pop — music
  4. club — for golf
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. kid — to tease
  7. club — a group
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. capital — money
  11. club — for dancing
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. bark — to shout
  14. fall — the season
  15. kid — child
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. fall — to drop
  19. file — a document
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. capital — a city
  22. file — a tool
  23. fall — to drop
  24. pop — to visit

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