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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. tube — a container
  3. roll — a cake
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. row — a line
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. cold — an illness
  10. court — for sport
  11. court — of law
  12. toast — bread
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. court — of a king
  15. roll — a list
  16. tube — the underground
  17. shower — to wash
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. staff — a stick
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. cold — not warm
  22. staff — employees
  23. shower — rain
  24. row — to paddle

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