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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 116 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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. pound — a weight
  4. pop — to visit
  5. wind — moving air
  6. field — for sport
  7. tube — a container
  8. pop — soda
  9. hand — help
  10. field — farmland
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. pop — music
  13. present — a gift
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. field — a subject
  16. spell — magic
  17. tube — the underground
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wind — moving air
  20. present — the time now
  21. hand — in cards
  22. spell — letters
  23. present — there
  24. pound — to hit hard

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