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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. cell — in biology
  4. lean — to bend
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. land — to come down
  7. lean — thin
  8. file — a tool
  9. tube — a container
  10. ball — a great time
  11. tube — the underground
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. march — the month
  14. cell — a phone
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. land — a country
  17. march — music
  18. march — the month
  19. land — ground
  20. ball — a dance
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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