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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 116 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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. game — a match
  3. snap — to click
  4. object — to protest
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. scale — size or range
  7. last — final
  8. last — to go on
  9. scale — in music
  10. fall — to drop
  11. game — wild animals
  12. object — an aim
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. tube — a container
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. fall — to drop
  18. row — a line
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. fall — the season
  21. row — to paddle
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. object — a thing
  24. last — finally

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