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

Word bank: bear · fall · chest · shower · cue · march · tube · file

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. march — the month
  3. march — the month
  4. file — a tool
  5. bear — the animal
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. fall — to drop
  8. cue — for pool
  9. tube — the underground
  10. file — a line of people
  11. chest — a box
  12. shower — to wash
  13. fall — to drop
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cue — a signal
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cue — a hint
  18. fall — the season
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. file — a document
  21. shower — rain
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. march — music
  24. bear — the animal

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