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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. capital — a city
  4. saw — the tool
  5. saw — the tool
  6. chair — a leader
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. wound — an injury
  10. tube — a container
  11. spring — a coil
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. capital — money
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. pound — a weight
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. tube — the underground
  23. spring — the season
  24. spring — of water

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