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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 120 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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  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. pop — soda
  2. cold — an illness
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. tube — a container
  5. degree — an amount
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. degree — from a university
  12. pop — to visit
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tube — the underground
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. scale — size or range
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pop — music
  23. scale — in music
  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