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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. tube — a container
  4. snap — to click
  5. mine — for digging
  6. game — wild animals
  7. kid — child
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. game — a match
  11. kid — to tease
  12. stem — to come from
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. tube — the underground
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. straw — dry grass

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