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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. game — a match
  3. ball — a great time
  4. ball — a dance
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. tube — the underground
  7. rush — hurry
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. spring — of water
  10. shower — to wash
  11. spring — the season
  12. tube — a container
  13. spring — a coil
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. pitch — completely
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. shower — rain
  24. game — wild animals

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