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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 supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. stock — goods
  3. tube — the underground
  4. band — a music group
  5. band — a ring
  6. mine — for digging
  7. spell — letters
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. spring — the season
  11. vault — a safe
  12. spring — of water
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. shower — to wash
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. shower — rain
  19. spring — a coil
  20. stock — shares
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — a short time
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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