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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  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. tube — a container
  2. staff — employees
  3. bark — to shout
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tear — to rip
  6. staff — a stick
  7. tube — the underground
  8. swing — in golf
  9. bore — to tire
  10. swing — music
  11. game — a match
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bore — to drill
  15. staff — employees
  16. tear — from crying
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. cold — not warm
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. tear — from crying
  23. swing — to play on
  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