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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 120 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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Word bank
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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: mark · tube · last · root · saw · cold · clip · file

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. tube — the underground
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. saw — the tool
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. mark — a grade
  7. file — a line of people
  8. last — to go on
  9. file — a document
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. tube — a container
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. last — final
  16. mark — a trace
  17. file — a tool
  18. root — of a plant
  19. root — the cause
  20. clip — for paper
  21. root — of a word
  22. last — finally
  23. clip — a video
  24. saw — the tool

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