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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. tube — the underground
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. rush — hurry
  5. ground — the earth
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. spring — the season
  8. saw — the tool
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. spring — a coil
  12. file — a tool
  13. tube — a container
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. dip — to sink
  18. ground — crushed
  19. ground — a position
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a document
  22. spring — of water
  23. bat — the animal
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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