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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 116 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. spell — a short time
  6. bore — to tire
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. spring — a coil
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spring — the season
  12. spring — of water
  13. spell — magic
  14. cold — an illness
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tube — the underground
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. scale — size or range
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. tube — a container
  22. scale — in music
  23. bore — to drill
  24. bay — a horse colour

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