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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. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. spring — a coil
  3. tube — a container
  4. clip — for paper
  5. branch — a division
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — a video
  9. spring — the season
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. tube — the underground
  12. degree — an amount
  13. spring — of water
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. clip — to cut
  20. degree — temperature
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bat — the animal
  23. degree — from a university
  24. wind — moving air

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