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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. band — a music group
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spell — letters
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. bank — for money
  8. spring — of water
  9. clip — a video
  10. spring — the season
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. tube — a container
  13. stem — to come from
  14. bank — of a river
  15. spell — a short time
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. capital — a city
  18. clip — to cut
  19. spell — magic
  20. bank — for money
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. clip — for paper
  24. band — a ring

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