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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. clip — a video
  3. wind — moving air
  4. spell — a short time
  5. wound — an injury
  6. rash — a series
  7. clip — to cut
  8. pop — soda
  9. wind — moving air
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. spell — letters
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. pop — music
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tube — a container
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. clip — for paper
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. pop — to visit
  23. rash — hasty
  24. spell — magic

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