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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. ball — a great time
  3. tube — the underground
  4. clip — for paper
  5. cold — an illness
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. clip — to cut
  8. can — to be able to
  9. root — the cause
  10. cap — a hat
  11. cap — a lid
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. can — a tin
  16. tube — a container
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. can — a tin
  19. cap — of ice
  20. ball — a dance
  21. root — of a plant
  22. ball — a round shape
  23. root — of a word
  24. cold — not warm

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