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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. tube — a container
  4. degree — an amount
  5. march — music
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. rest — a break
  8. season — in sport
  9. degree — temperature
  10. rest — what's left
  11. season — of the year
  12. rash — a series
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. bass — low music
  16. clip — to cut
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. tube — the underground
  19. rest — what's left
  20. degree — from a university
  21. clip — a video
  22. bass — the fish
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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