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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. file — a tool
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. board — a committee
  5. present — a gift
  6. game — a match
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. file — a line of people
  9. board — to get on
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. present — there
  12. present — the time now
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tube — the underground
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. bat — the animal
  17. game — wild animals
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. file — a document
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. wound — an injury

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