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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.

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: band · file · bark · wound · chair · rush · spell · racket

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. band — a music group
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. spell — magic
  9. band — a ring
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. spell — a short time
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. file — a document
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — an injury
  18. chair — a leader
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. rush — hurry
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a tool
  23. bark — to shout
  24. band — a rubber band

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