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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. spell — magic
  4. tube — a container
  5. shower — rain
  6. spell — a short time
  7. march — the month
  8. root — the cause
  9. march — the month
  10. tube — the underground
  11. spell — letters
  12. row — to paddle
  13. root — of a plant
  14. bear — the animal
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. bear — the animal
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. field — farmland
  19. root — of a word
  20. field — a subject
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. march — music
  23. shower — to wash
  24. field — for sport

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