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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  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. press — to push
  3. root — of a plant
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. swing — to play on
  7. cold — an illness
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. root — the cause
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. swing — music
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. press — newspapers
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. press — a publisher
  19. bat — the animal
  20. swing — in golf
  21. mine — for digging
  22. tube — a container
  23. root — of a word
  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