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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. tube — a container
  5. tube — the underground
  6. stem — to come from
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bear — the animal
  9. swing — to play on
  10. bear — the animal
  11. swing — music
  12. cold — an illness
  13. prune — to trim
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. prune — to trim
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. swing — in golf
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wound — an injury
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. wound — an injury
  23. date — the fruit
  24. cold — not warm

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