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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. tube — the underground
  4. cold — an illness
  5. prune — to trim
  6. lean — to bend
  7. bass — low music
  8. bear — the animal
  9. root — the cause
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. bass — the fish
  12. tube — a container
  13. cold — not warm
  14. root — of a word
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. ball — a great time
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. lean — thin
  19. bear — the animal
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. root — of a plant
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. prune — to trim

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