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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: cold · race · chair · content · bear · rule · file · tube

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. bear — the animal
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. race — a contest
  8. content — the amount
  9. file — a document
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. file — a line of people
  12. rule — government
  13. chair — a leader
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. rule — a law
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. tube — the underground
  19. cold — an illness
  20. race — humankind
  21. bear — the animal
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. file — a tool
  24. race — the arms race

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