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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. rest — a break
  3. tube — a container
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. game — a match
  7. prune — to trim
  8. clip — for paper
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. tube — the underground
  12. clip — a video
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — what's left
  15. game — wild animals
  16. prune — to trim
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spring — the season
  21. clip — to cut
  22. spring — of water
  23. pound — a weight
  24. game — a kind of play

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