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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. wound — an injury
  3. last — to go on
  4. court — of a king
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wound — an injury
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — to wash
  9. court — for sport
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. last — finally
  13. stock — shares
  14. tear — from crying
  15. court — of law
  16. stock — goods
  17. tear — to rip
  18. last — final
  19. tube — the underground
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. tube — in a tire

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