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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. spell — a short time
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tube — the underground
  6. shower — to wash
  7. stock — shares
  8. lean — to bend
  9. clip — to cut
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. object — an aim
  12. spell — letters
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. spell — magic
  15. stock — goods
  16. lean — thin
  17. object — a thing
  18. cold — an illness
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cold — not warm
  21. shower — rain
  22. object — to protest
  23. clip — a video
  24. tube — in a tire

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