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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. squash — to crush
  4. scale — size or range
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. wound — an injury
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. mine — for digging
  9. safe — out of danger
  10. wound — an injury
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. tube — the underground
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. scale — in music
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. squash — the sport
  17. tube — a container
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. scale — for weighing

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