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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 120 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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. pop — soda
  3. clip — to cut
  4. file — a line of people
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. file — a document
  8. shower — to wash
  9. clip — for paper
  10. ball — a great time
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. clip — a video
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. capital — money
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. ball — a dance
  17. pop — to visit
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. tube — a container
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. capital — a city
  22. pop — music
  23. tube — the underground
  24. file — a tool

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