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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chip · cold · tube · prune · capital · root · pound · field

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. root — the cause
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. tube — the underground
  7. tube — a container
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. chip — for betting
  10. chip — to eat
  11. prune — to trim
  12. field — for sport
  13. field — a subject
  14. field — farmland
  15. cold — not warm
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pound — a weight
  18. root — of a word
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. cold — an illness
  21. root — of a plant
  22. capital — money
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — a big letter

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