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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. pound — a weight
  3. spring — of water
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. spring — a coil
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. tube — a container
  10. file — a document
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. vault — a safe
  13. file — a tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cold — an illness
  22. file — a line of people
  23. dip — to sink
  24. spring — the season

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