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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. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I've got to change the light ________________.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. bulb — for light
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. capital — a city
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. content — happy
  8. tube — the underground
  9. tube — a container
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. ground — a position
  13. bulb — for light
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. ground — the earth
  16. clip — to cut
  17. capital — money
  18. race — a contest
  19. content — the amount
  20. bat — the animal
  21. clip — a video
  22. ground — crushed
  23. race — humankind
  24. race — the arms race

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