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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. staff — employees
  4. tube — a container
  5. game — a match
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. staff — employees
  9. stem — to come from
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tube — the underground
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wound — an injury
  22. staff — a stick
  23. game — wild animals
  24. pitcher — a jug

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