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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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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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. shower — to wash
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. rest — what's left
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. wound — an injury
  13. rest — what's left
  14. tube — the underground
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. bat — the animal
  18. shower — rain
  19. tube — a container
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — a division
  22. pound — a weight
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. mouse — the animal

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