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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 need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. race — a contest
  3. ground — crushed
  4. clip — for paper
  5. clip — a video
  6. branch — a division
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. tube — a container
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. court — of law
  11. court — for sport
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. court — of a king
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. ground — a position
  18. race — humankind
  19. race — the arms race
  20. tube — the underground
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. ground — the earth
  24. clip — to cut

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