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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 120 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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. dip — to sink
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. rest — what's left
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. tube — a container
  11. tube — the underground
  12. band — a ring
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. rest — a break
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. hand — in cards
  19. stem — to come from
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. band — a music group
  23. rest — what's left
  24. coach — a trainer

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