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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: game · chair · march · tube · wake · plane · bound · clip

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bound — obliged
  5. tube — a container
  6. bound — tied together
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. wake — a trail
  9. game — a match
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. march — music
  12. clip — a video
  13. tube — the underground
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. march — the month
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. chair — a leader
  18. march — the month
  19. clip — to cut
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. game — wild animals
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. bound — certain
  24. plane — a 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