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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tube — a container
  3. scale — size or range
  4. cold — an illness
  5. club — a group
  6. club — for dancing
  7. tube — the underground
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. club — for golf
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. race — humankind
  13. prune — to trim
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — a contest
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. prune — to trim
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. scale — in music
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cold — not warm

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