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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · shower · tube · game · stock · fork · cap · pound

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. cap — of ice
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. shower — to wash
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. stock — goods
  7. stock — shares
  8. fork — in a road
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. game — a match
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cap — a hat
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. tube — a container
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cap — a lid
  22. pound — a weight
  23. shower — rain
  24. chest — of your body

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