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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. ball — a dance
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. tube — the underground
  6. club — for dancing
  7. rash — a series
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. chair — a leader
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ball — a great time
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. bat — the animal
  18. club — for golf
  19. club — a group
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cold — not warm
  24. rash — hasty

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