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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. file — a document
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. shower — rain
  6. spring — the season
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. club — for golf
  9. rash — a series
  10. last — finally
  11. tube — a container
  12. file — a tool
  13. mine — for digging
  14. club — a group
  15. rash — hasty
  16. spring — a coil
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. last — to go on
  19. club — for dancing
  20. shower — to wash
  21. last — final
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. spring — of water
  24. file — a line of people

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