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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: file · land · racket · pop · kid · tube · cold · scale

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. land — to come down
  3. pop — soda
  4. file — a tool
  5. land — a country
  6. scale — size or range
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. tube — a container
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. kid — to tease
  11. tube — the underground
  12. scale — in music
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. land — ground
  16. cold — not warm
  17. file — a document
  18. pop — music
  19. pop — to visit
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. file — a line of people
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. kid — child

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