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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 116 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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. mine — for digging
  3. object — a thing
  4. tube — a container
  5. charge — a price
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. clip — a video
  8. object — to protest
  9. tube — the underground
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. charge — electricity
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. object — an aim
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. charge — in control
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rock — a stone
  21. rock — music
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — for paper
  24. pitcher — a jug

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