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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 120 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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. bass — low music
  4. pound — a weight
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. tube — a container
  8. chest — of your body
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. spring — a coil
  18. tube — the underground
  19. bass — the fish
  20. spring — of water
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chest — a box
  23. chest — of your body
  24. spring — the season

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