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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. tube — the underground
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. wind — moving air
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bound — obliged
  9. race — humankind
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. bound — tied together
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. spring — the season
  16. tube — a container
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. wind — moving air
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bass — low music
  22. race — a contest
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. bound — certain

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