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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. spell — magic
  3. game — a match
  4. spell — a short time
  5. tube — the underground
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. mate — to breed
  8. bear — the animal
  9. tube — a container
  10. roll — a cake
  11. spell — letters
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. drill — a practice
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bear — the animal
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mate — a partner
  18. drill — the tool
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. drill — army training
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. game — wild animals
  23. mate — a friend
  24. cold — not warm

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