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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. file — a line of people
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — in cards
  6. tear — to rip
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. file — a document
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. row — a line
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wind — moving air
  13. row — to paddle
  14. file — a tool
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tube — a container
  18. bulb — for light
  19. hand — help
  20. prune — to trim
  21. tube — the underground
  22. tear — from crying
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. bulb — for light

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