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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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. degree — an amount
  4. court — of law
  5. court — for sport
  6. drill — the tool
  7. cap — a hat
  8. drill — army training
  9. cap — a lid
  10. cap — of ice
  11. tube — the underground
  12. court — of a king
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. kid — to tease
  16. capital — money
  17. bass — the fish
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — temperature
  20. drill — a practice
  21. capital — a city
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. bass — low music
  24. kid — child

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