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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. band — a music group
  3. face — part of the head
  4. tube — the underground
  5. cold — an illness
  6. spring — the season
  7. face — to confront
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. tube — a container
  13. face — to point toward
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spring — of water
  21. band — a ring
  22. stem — to come from
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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