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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 need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spring — a coil
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. pitch — completely
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. spring — the season
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. root — of a plant
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tube — a container
  18. wake — a trail
  19. spring — of water
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. stand — to bear
  22. root — the cause
  23. root — of a word
  24. wind — to turn a key

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