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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  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. bore — to tire
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. spring — the season
  5. tube — the underground
  6. field — a subject
  7. cell — in biology
  8. chip — to eat
  9. field — for sport
  10. spring — a coil
  11. field — farmland
  12. pop — music
  13. chip — for betting
  14. bore — to drill
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. land — ground
  17. pop — soda
  18. spring — of water
  19. land — a country
  20. land — to come down
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — a phone
  23. pop — to visit
  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