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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. content — the amount
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. tube — the underground
  6. snap — to click
  7. clip — for paper
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. content — happy
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. spring — of water
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. track — a song
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. spring — a coil
  17. tube — a container
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. track — to keep track
  20. track — a path
  21. clip — to cut
  22. mine — for digging
  23. clip — a video
  24. spring — the season

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