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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · lie · tube · ball · file · rest · bore · season

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  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. tube — a container
  2. rest — what's left
  3. season — of the year
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. bore — to drill
  8. cold — an illness
  9. tube — the underground
  10. rest — what's left
  11. cold — not warm
  12. file — a line of people
  13. ball — a dance
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. ball — a great time
  17. file — a document
  18. bore — to tire
  19. file — a tool
  20. rest — a break
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. season — in sport
  23. lie — to recline
  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