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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. march — music
  4. bat — the animal
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. bound — obliged
  7. mate — a friend
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. march — the month
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. mate — a partner
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. band — a music group
  16. march — the month
  17. band — a ring
  18. tube — the underground
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. scale — in music
  22. mate — to breed
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. scale — size or range

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