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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. bat — the animal
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. hand — help
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. tube — the underground
  8. branch — a division
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. wound — an injury
  12. scale — size or range
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. tube — a container
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. hand — in cards
  23. wound — an injury
  24. scale — in music

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