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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. degree — from a university
  3. sharp — clever
  4. root — of a plant
  5. degree — temperature
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. prune — to trim
  9. tube — a container
  10. wound — an injury
  11. root — the cause
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. tube — the underground
  14. file — a tool
  15. prune — to trim
  16. file — a document
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. degree — an amount
  21. file — a line of people
  22. root — of a word
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. wound — an injury

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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