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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. row — a line
  3. stem — to come from
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. cold — not warm
  7. track — a path
  8. track — to keep track
  9. wind — moving air
  10. tube — a container
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. fine — all right
  16. cold — an illness
  17. track — a song
  18. fine — high quality
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. tube — the underground
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. row — to paddle

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