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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 124 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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. shower — to wash
  5. chip — for betting
  6. fine — high quality
  7. bound — tied together
  8. court — of law
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. bound — obliged
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bound — certain
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. tube — a container
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. fine — all right
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. court — of a king
  19. tube — the underground
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. chip — to eat
  23. shower — rain
  24. wind — moving air

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