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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 116 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 want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. wound — an injury
  3. band — a ring
  4. rule — a law
  5. court — of law
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. rule — government
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wound — an injury
  10. court — of a king
  11. capital — money
  12. staff — employees
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. staff — a stick
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. staff — employees
  18. capital — a city
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. tube — the underground
  22. band — a music group
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. court — for sport

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