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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. bass — low music
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. fall — the season
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. capital — money
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. capital — a city
  10. fall — to drop
  11. tube — the underground
  12. kid — to tease
  13. wake — a trail
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. stem — to come from
  17. chair — a leader
  18. tube — a container
  19. kid — child
  20. bass — the fish
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. fall — to drop

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