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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. pit — in a race
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. pit — a hole
  8. shower — to wash
  9. scale — size or range
  10. present — a gift
  11. capital — money
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. capital — a city
  14. shower — rain
  15. scale — in music
  16. bat — the animal
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. present — the time now
  21. present — there
  22. tube — the underground
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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