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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 120 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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. capital — money
  4. craft — a skill
  5. tube — a container
  6. wind — moving air
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. stock — shares
  9. wind — moving air
  10. degree — from a university
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. cell — a phone
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cell — in biology
  16. tube — the underground
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. stock — goods
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. craft — boats
  24. degree — an amount

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