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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. fall — to drop
  3. squash — the sport
  4. tube — a container
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — not warm
  7. tube — the underground
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. file — a tool
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. bear — the animal
  13. perch — the fish
  14. file — a document
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. file — a line of people
  17. squash — to crush
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. season — of the year
  22. season — in sport
  23. fall — the season
  24. cold — an illness

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