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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. spell — letters
  3. cold — not warm
  4. tube — a container
  5. drill — a practice
  6. key — in music
  7. key — the most important part
  8. object — an aim
  9. drill — army training
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cap — a hat
  12. spell — magic
  13. key — for a lock
  14. cold — an illness
  15. object — to protest
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — the underground
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. drill — the tool
  20. spell — a short time
  21. cap — of ice
  22. wind — moving air
  23. object — a thing
  24. cap — a lid

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