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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. spring — a coil
  3. ground — a position
  4. spring — the season
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. rule — a law
  7. rule — government
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. clip — to cut
  10. spring — of water
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — the sport
  13. bear — the animal
  14. clip — a video
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. squash — to crush
  20. tube — a container
  21. ground — the earth
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. bear — the animal

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