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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: trunk · wind · foot · cold · bulb · tube · last · fan

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. wind — moving air
  3. last — final
  4. bulb — for light
  5. last — to go on
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tube — the underground
  12. tube — a container
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. cold — an illness
  20. foot — a measure
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. bulb — for light
  24. bulb — of a plant

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