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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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. march — music
  4. clip — a video
  5. ground — crushed
  6. tube — a container
  7. ground — a position
  8. drill — a practice
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. clip — to cut
  14. march — the month
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. content — happy
  18. rest — what's left
  19. rest — a break
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. drill — army training
  22. drill — the tool
  23. march — the month
  24. tube — the underground

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