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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. tube — the underground
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cell — a phone
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. pop — music
  7. fall — to drop
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. file — a line of people
  10. pop — soda
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. pop — to visit
  13. shower — rain
  14. fall — to drop
  15. sharp — clever
  16. file — a document
  17. cell — in biology
  18. tube — a container
  19. fall — the season
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. squash — to crush
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. file — a tool

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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