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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. wind — moving air
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. content — happy
  5. degree — temperature
  6. race — humankind
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. race — a contest
  10. degree — from a university
  11. degree — an amount
  12. chair — a leader
  13. content — the amount
  14. wind — moving air
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. tube — the underground
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. rule — a law
  21. rule — government
  22. tube — a container
  23. race — the arms race
  24. fan — a supporter

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