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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: scale · wind · racket · fall · content · shower · cold · tube

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. fall — the season
  4. scale — size or range
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. scale — in music
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cold — not warm
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. shower — to wash
  14. fall — to drop
  15. content — the amount
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wind — moving air
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. shower — rain
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. tube — the underground
  22. fall — to drop
  23. tube — a container
  24. cold — the Cold War

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