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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 need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. hand — in cards
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. shower — rain
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — a country
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. hand — help
  10. charge — electricity
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. content — the amount
  14. chip — to eat
  15. tube — a container
  16. land — ground
  17. shower — to wash
  18. cold — an illness
  19. tube — the underground
  20. chip — for betting
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. charge — in control
  23. charge — a price
  24. chip — in a computer

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