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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 120 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. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. rule — government
  3. cold — not warm
  4. tube — the underground
  5. march — the month
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. rule — a law
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. can — a tin
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. march — music
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. can — a tin
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. march — the month
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. tube — a container
  24. can — to be able to

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