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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. cap — a hat
  3. tube — a container
  4. track — a path
  5. wind — moving air
  6. pop — to visit
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. track — to keep track
  9. pop — soda
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. pop — music
  12. spring — of water
  13. tube — the underground
  14. kid — child
  15. wind — moving air
  16. kid — to tease
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. track — a song
  20. spring — the season
  21. mine — for digging
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. cap — of ice
  24. spring — a coil

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