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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. row — a line
  5. kid — child
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. tube — a container
  8. kid — to tease
  9. game — a match
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. row — to paddle
  12. tear — from crying
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. tear — to rip
  17. file — a tool
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. plane — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. stem — to come from
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tear — from crying
  24. plane — an aircraft

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