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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. kid — child
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. cold — not warm
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. face — to confront
  8. cold — an illness
  9. net — for catching
  10. tube — a container
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. kid — to tease
  13. stand — to bear
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. face — to point toward
  17. net — after costs
  18. game — wild animals
  19. tube — the underground
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. net — in sport
  23. game — a match
  24. face — part of the head

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