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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. ball — a great time
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. tube — the underground
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. degree — an amount
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lean — thin
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. degree — from a university
  17. ball — a dance
  18. degree — temperature
  19. cold — not warm
  20. lean — to bend
  21. stock — goods
  22. stock — shares
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. nail — for a hammer

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