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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  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. pop — music
  2. row — to paddle
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. tube — a container
  5. bank — of a river
  6. season — in sport
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. file — a line of people
  10. tube — the underground
  11. pop — to visit
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. file — a document
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. cold — an illness
  17. season — of the year
  18. bank — for money
  19. pop — soda
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bank — for money
  22. row — a line
  23. season — to add flavour
  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