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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. coach — pulled by horses
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. tube — the underground
  4. dip — to sink
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. wind — moving air
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. rash — hasty
  12. tube — a container
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. perch — the fish
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. rash — a series
  21. sharp — clever
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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