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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. prune — to trim
  4. clip — to cut
  5. field — for sport
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. spring — a coil
  8. tube — the underground
  9. pitch — completely
  10. spring — of water
  11. field — farmland
  12. ground — crushed
  13. content — happy
  14. ground — a position
  15. clip — a video
  16. prune — to trim
  17. clip — for paper
  18. field — a subject
  19. content — the amount
  20. tube — a container
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. spring — the season
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. prune — the fruit

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