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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. tube — the underground
  6. cold — not warm
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. ground — crushed
  9. cue — a hint
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. cue — for pool
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cold — an illness
  14. ground — a position
  15. cue — a signal
  16. root — the cause
  17. wind — moving air
  18. root — of a word
  19. ground — the earth
  20. wind — moving air
  21. kick — in football
  22. tube — a container
  23. root — of a plant
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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