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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 need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. tube — the underground
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. march — music
  5. fork — in a road
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. clip — a video
  10. ball — a great time
  11. rash — hasty
  12. rash — a series
  13. ball — a dance
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. wound — an injury
  16. tube — a container
  17. clip — to cut
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. clip — for paper
  20. squash — the sport
  21. march — the month
  22. wound — an injury
  23. squash — to crush
  24. march — the month

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