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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. rock — a stone
  5. band — a music group
  6. drill — the tool
  7. band — a ring
  8. tube — a container
  9. rock — music
  10. pop — to visit
  11. drill — a practice
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. drill — army training
  14. tube — the underground
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chest — a box
  17. spell — magic
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. chest — of your body
  20. spell — letters
  21. pop — soda
  22. pop — music
  23. chest — of your body
  24. spell — a short time

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