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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. net — in sport
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. drill — army training
  8. drill — the tool
  9. root — the cause
  10. cold — not warm
  11. drill — a practice
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. root — of a word
  15. tube — the underground
  16. root — of a plant
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. tube — a container
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. net — for catching
  21. net — after costs
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. bat — for baseball

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