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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 116 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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. snap — to click
  3. march — music
  4. tube — the underground
  5. field — a subject
  6. march — the month
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. field — farmland
  10. shower — to wash
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. sharp — clever
  18. march — the month
  19. field — for sport
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. pound — a weight
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. shower — rain
  24. vault — a safe

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