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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 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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. game — wild animals
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. can — a tin
  5. pop — music
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. game — a match
  9. bear — the animal
  10. tube — the underground
  11. tube — a container
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pop — soda
  19. bear — the animal
  20. can — to be able to
  21. can — a tin
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. wind — moving air
  24. cabinet — ministers

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