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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. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bank — of a river
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. ball — a dance
  4. mine — for digging
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. clip — a video
  9. bank — for money
  10. clip — for paper
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. tube — a container
  13. hand — help
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. clip — to cut
  17. tube — the underground
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. bank — for money
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. cold — an illness
  23. ball — a great time
  24. mouse — for a computer

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