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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. cold — an illness
  3. hand — help
  4. charge — electricity
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bat — the animal
  7. net — for catching
  8. tube — the underground
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. wind — moving air
  12. cold — not warm
  13. charge — a price
  14. staff — employees
  15. staff — employees
  16. hand — in cards
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. staff — a stick
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. net — after costs
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. wind — moving air
  23. net — in sport
  24. charge — in control

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