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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 116 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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. tube — the underground
  4. cold — an illness
  5. file — a line of people
  6. cell — a phone
  7. ground — a position
  8. pit — a hole
  9. file — a document
  10. cold — not warm
  11. tube — a container
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. ground — the earth
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. cell — in biology
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. file — a tool
  24. pit — in a race

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