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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. fine — all right
  3. fine — high quality
  4. spring — of water
  5. staff — employees
  6. ground — the earth
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. pound — a weight
  10. tube — a container
  11. foot — a measure
  12. spring — the season
  13. ground — a position
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. staff — a stick
  18. cold — not warm
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. tube — the underground
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. cold — an illness
  24. staff — employees

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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