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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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. sharp — exactly
  4. scale — size or range
  5. lean — thin
  6. court — of a king
  7. land — to come down
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. scale — in music
  10. land — a country
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. sharp — clever
  13. tube — the underground
  14. lean — to bend
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. land — ground
  17. file — a line of people
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. court — for sport
  20. file — a document
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. court — of law
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. lean — to rest against

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