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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 didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. present — a gift
  3. tube — a container
  4. field — a subject
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. swing — music
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. present — the time now
  9. swing — in golf
  10. chip — for betting
  11. chip — to eat
  12. wound — an injury
  13. swing — to play on
  14. wound — an injury
  15. capital — money
  16. wake — a trail
  17. field — farmland
  18. present — there
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. tube — the underground
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. field — for sport
  24. chip — in a computer

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