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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: bark · court · leaves · cold · file · race · swing · current

  1. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  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. swing — in golf
  2. race — a contest
  3. bark — to shout
  4. current — of water
  5. file — a tool
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. court — of law
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. current — electric
  10. court — for sport
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. cold — an illness
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. current — happening now
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cold — not warm
  18. court — of a king
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. race — humankind
  21. swing — music
  22. swing — to play on
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  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