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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: rash · racket · tube · drill · bass · cold · pitcher · land

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. rash — hasty
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. rash — a series
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. drill — a practice
  9. bass — low music
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. land — ground
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. drill — the tool
  15. tube — the underground
  16. bass — the fish
  17. drill — army training
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. land — to come down
  21. cold — not warm
  22. land — a country
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. racket — for tennis

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