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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: ball · nail · pitch · band · cold · saw · tube · land

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. land — ground
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. band — a ring
  8. ball — a great time
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. tube — the underground
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. ball — a dance
  13. band — a music group
  14. saw — the tool
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. tube — a container
  17. pitch — completely
  18. land — to come down
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. saw — the tool
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. land — a country
  24. cold — not warm

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