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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. cell — a phone
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. spring — the season
  10. tube — the underground
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cell — in biology
  14. spring — of water
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wake — a trail
  20. spring — a coil
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. pitch — completely
  24. tube — a container

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