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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 120 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 stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. tube — the underground
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. capital — money
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a document
  8. content — the amount
  9. game — wild animals
  10. capital — a city
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. tube — a container
  14. field — farmland
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. content — happy
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. firm — decided
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — for sport
  21. file — a tool
  22. game — a match
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. firm — a company

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