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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. chair — a leader
  6. race — a contest
  7. tube — the underground
  8. cold — an illness
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. bore — to drill
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. bore — to tire
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. race — the arms race
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. kid — child
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. race — humankind
  24. perch — the fish

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