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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. roll — a cake
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. roll — a list
  5. game — wild animals
  6. spell — magic
  7. tube — a container
  8. clip — a video
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. spell — letters
  11. mine — for digging
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. foot — a measure
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. game — a match
  17. tube — the underground
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. clip — to cut
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. spell — a short time
  23. rock — music
  24. rock — a stone

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