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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. tube — a container
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chest — of your body
  6. staff — employees
  7. row — a line
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. staff — employees
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. mine — for digging
  17. chest — a box
  18. tube — the underground
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. row — to paddle
  24. staff — a stick

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