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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. file — a line of people
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. tube — a container
  6. net — in sport
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. tube — the underground
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. field — a subject
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — farmland
  15. net — after costs
  16. file — a document
  17. net — for catching
  18. file — a tool

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