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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. last — finally
  3. tube — the underground
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — a coil
  6. field — a subject
  7. last — to go on
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. degree — from a university
  11. last — final
  12. shower — rain
  13. deal — to handle
  14. spring — the season
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. fall — to drop
  17. fall — the season
  18. degree — temperature
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. degree — an amount
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — to wash
  23. fall — to drop
  24. tube — in a tire

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