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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. tube — a container
  4. tube — the underground
  5. court — of law
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. court — of a king
  8. scale — size or range
  9. spring — of water
  10. court — for sport
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. spring — the season
  13. press — to push
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — in sport
  16. press — newspapers
  17. land — a country
  18. land — ground
  19. press — a publisher
  20. net — for catching
  21. land — to come down
  22. spring — a coil
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. scale — in music

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