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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: race · mine · track · scale · content · row · degree · tube

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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. content — happy
  4. row — a line
  5. race — humankind
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. degree — from a university
  10. track — a song
  11. track — to keep track
  12. scale — in music
  13. race — the arms race
  14. content — the amount
  15. degree — an amount
  16. race — a contest
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. degree — temperature
  19. track — a path
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. row — to paddle
  22. scale — size or range
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. tube — a container

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