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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tube — a container
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. cold — not warm
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. game — a match
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. deal — to handle
  10. game — wild animals
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. shower — to wash
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — for digging
  16. rush — hurry
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. branch — a division
  22. tube — the underground
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. deal — an agreement

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