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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 120 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 cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. tube — a container
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. rush — hurry
  7. clip — to cut
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. stem — to come from
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. chair — a leader
  13. clip — a video
  14. pound — a weight
  15. clip — for paper
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. tear — to rip
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. tear — from crying
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. tube — the underground

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