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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. fall — the season
  5. tube — a container
  6. bat — the animal
  7. field — farmland
  8. deal — to handle
  9. drill — the tool
  10. roll — a cake
  11. drill — army training
  12. roll — a list
  13. row — to paddle
  14. drill — a practice
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. fall — to drop
  17. tube — the underground
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. field — for sport
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. row — a line
  22. fall — to drop
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. field — a subject

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