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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 116 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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. tube — the underground
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. clip — to cut
  5. tube — a container
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bear — the animal
  8. cue — for pool
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cue — a signal
  11. wax — to grow
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. mine — for digging
  14. sharp — clever
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. scale — size or range
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. cue — a hint
  19. scale — in music
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — a video

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