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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. march — the month
  7. sharp — clever
  8. field — farmland
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. file — a document
  11. field — a subject
  12. tube — a container
  13. rush — hurry
  14. file — a tool
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. march — the month
  17. file — a line of people
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a city
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. field — for sport
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. march — music
  24. tube — the underground

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