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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. bat — the animal
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. degree — an amount
  5. tube — a container
  6. degree — temperature
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. file — a line of people
  14. prune — to trim
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. prune — to trim
  21. file — a document
  22. wind — moving air
  23. degree — from a university
  24. file — a tool

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