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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. pop — soda
  3. cold — an illness
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. present — there
  7. cold — not warm
  8. present — a gift
  9. object — to protest
  10. field — farmland
  11. present — the time now
  12. pop — to visit
  13. field — a subject
  14. object — a thing
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. pop — music
  18. band — a ring
  19. object — an aim
  20. field — for sport
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tube — a container
  24. cold — the Cold War

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