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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. tube — a container
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bound — tied together
  5. drill — the tool
  6. cell — in biology
  7. plane — a tool
  8. bound — obliged
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cell — a phone
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. bound — certain
  18. tube — the underground
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. drill — a practice
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. drill — army training

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