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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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. fall — to drop
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. capital — money
  6. march — music
  7. tube — a container
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. fall — the season
  10. march — the month
  11. roll — a cake
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. tube — the underground
  14. roll — a list
  15. wind — moving air
  16. sharp — clever
  17. fall — to drop
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. march — the month
  22. capital — a city
  23. wind — moving air
  24. straw — dry grass

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