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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tube — a container
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. tear — to rip
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cap — a lid
  8. game — a match
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. ball — a great time
  11. cap — of ice
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tube — the underground
  15. shower — rain
  16. branch — a division
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cap — a hat
  19. tear — from crying
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. ball — a dance
  24. ball — a round shape

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