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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. rash — a series
  4. wound — an injury
  5. face — to point toward
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. wound — an injury
  8. file — a document
  9. tube — the underground
  10. face — to confront
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. tube — a container
  13. degree — temperature
  14. present — the time now
  15. content — happy
  16. face — part of the head
  17. file — a tool
  18. degree — an amount
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. content — the amount
  21. present — there
  22. degree — from a university
  23. file — a line of people
  24. present — a gift

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