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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. ground — a position
  3. tube — a container
  4. pit — a hole
  5. ground — the earth
  6. pit — in a race
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ground — crushed
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. game — a match
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. roll — a list
  16. roll — a cake
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. chest — of your body
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. chest — a box
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. tube — the underground

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