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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The tickets are free of ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. ground — crushed
  3. charge — in control
  4. row — a line
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. scale — size or range
  7. ground — a position
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chest — of your body
  12. rush — hurry
  13. ground — the earth
  14. chest — a box
  15. tube — a container
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. scale — in music
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. charge — a price
  21. row — to paddle
  22. charge — electricity
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. scale — for weighing

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