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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. perch — the fish
  4. cold — an illness
  5. kid — to tease
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. tube — a container
  8. bass — the fish
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. pitch — completely
  11. bass — low music
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. last — to go on
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. last — finally
  16. pound — a weight
  17. tube — the underground
  18. kid — child
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. last — final
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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