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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 120 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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. tube — a container
  3. content — happy
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. rock — a stone
  8. content — the amount
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. race — the arms race
  11. rock — music
  12. fine — high quality
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. sharp — clever
  15. fine — all right
  16. tube — the underground
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. pitch — completely
  19. race — a contest
  20. bat — the animal
  21. race — humankind
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. pitch — a sports field

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