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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. tube — the underground
  3. roll — a cake
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. cold — not warm
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. tube — a container
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. cold — an illness
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. stock — goods
  13. stock — shares
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. hand — help
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. rush — hurry
  21. roll — a list
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. tube — in a tire

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