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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. march — the month
  5. current — of water
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spring — the season
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. spring — of water
  12. march — the month
  13. tube — a container
  14. march — music
  15. current — electric
  16. tube — the underground
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. chest — of your body
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. spring — a coil
  21. chest — a box
  22. current — happening now
  23. wound — an injury
  24. chest — of your body

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