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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 120 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. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. band — a ring
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. tube — a container
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. file — a tool
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. capital — money
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. capital — a city
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. file — a line of people
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. stem — to come from
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. plane — a tool
  23. file — a document
  24. band — a music group

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