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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. tube — a container
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. mine — for digging
  6. file — a line of people
  7. cold — not warm
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. tube — the underground
  11. fork — in a road
  12. cold — an illness
  13. mark — a trace
  14. file — a document
  15. wound — an injury
  16. file — a tool
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. mark — a grade
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. chest — a box
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wound — an injury
  24. tube — in a tire

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