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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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468
Word bank
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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. tear — from crying
  3. march — music
  4. ground — the earth
  5. file — a document
  6. march — the month
  7. tear — to rip
  8. mate — a partner
  9. mate — a friend
  10. file — a tool
  11. ground — a position
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. race — humankind
  14. ground — crushed
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tear — from crying
  18. race — the arms race
  19. race — a contest
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. file — a line of people
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. march — the month
  24. mate — to breed

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