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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: tube · lean · charge · race · ground · chair · mine · shower

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. charge — in control
  4. chair — a leader
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. charge — a price
  7. charge — electricity
  8. ground — crushed
  9. lean — to bend
  10. ground — a position
  11. mine — for digging
  12. race — humankind
  13. race — the arms race
  14. tube — the underground
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. race — a contest
  18. shower — to wash
  19. ground — the earth
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. lean — thin
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. shower — rain

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