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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. kid — to tease
  3. tube — a container
  4. last — final
  5. bound — obliged
  6. present — a gift
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. last — to go on
  10. clip — to cut
  11. spring — of water
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. clip — for paper
  14. tube — the underground
  15. spring — a coil
  16. kid — child
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. last — finally
  19. present — there
  20. clip — a video
  21. spring — the season
  22. bound — certain
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. bound — tied together

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