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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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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: tube · race · band · bat · press · spring · chip · court

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. press — a publisher
  3. press — newspapers
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. band — a ring
  6. spring — a coil
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. tube — the underground
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. court — for sport
  13. race — a contest
  14. court — of a king
  15. bat — the animal
  16. spring — the season
  17. chip — to eat
  18. press — to push
  19. court — of law
  20. race — the arms race
  21. chip — for betting
  22. band — a music group
  23. spring — of water
  24. race — humankind

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