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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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — a lid
  4. last — finally
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. tube — the underground
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. bat — the animal
  10. last — final
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. tube — a container
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. cap — of ice
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. fork — in a road
  19. band — a ring
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. band — a music group
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. last — to go on
  24. fork — to eat with

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