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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. bass — low music
  3. tube — a container
  4. cold — not warm
  5. tube — the underground
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. track — a path
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. track — a song
  12. charge — electricity
  13. cold — an illness
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. bat — the animal
  16. charge — a price
  17. bass — the fish
  18. game — wild animals
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. game — a match
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. charge — in control
  24. sharp — clever

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