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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. present — there
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bat — the animal
  7. mate — a friend
  8. mate — a partner
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. bear — the animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cell — a phone
  15. present — the time now
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. bear — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. tube — a container
  20. present — a gift
  21. perch — the fish
  22. mate — to breed
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. cold — an illness

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