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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. scale — size or range
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. tube — a container
  6. drill — the tool
  7. shower — to wash
  8. scale — in music
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bear — the animal
  11. degree — from a university
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a city
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. drill — a practice
  18. shower — rain
  19. tube — the underground
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. drill — army training
  22. degree — an amount
  23. bear — the animal
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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