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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 120 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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — of the year
  4. shower — to wash
  5. tube — a container
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. file — a line of people
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. spell — a short time
  12. content — the amount
  13. squash — to crush
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. spell — letters
  16. content — happy
  17. spell — magic
  18. bat — the animal
  19. file — a document
  20. squash — the sport
  21. file — a tool
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. shower — rain
  24. season — to add flavour

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