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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. cell — in biology
  4. degree — an amount
  5. rash — hasty
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. cell — a phone
  8. lean — to bend
  9. tube — the underground
  10. tube — a container
  11. lean — thin
  12. degree — temperature
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. ball — a dance
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. rash — a series
  19. ball — a great time
  20. clip — to cut
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. degree — from a university
  24. clip — a video

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