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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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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: capital · cabinet · kid · mine · wound · tube · lash · pound

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. tube — a container
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. pound — a weight
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. wound — an injury
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. wound — an injury
  12. capital — a city
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. kid — child
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. capital — money
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. tube — the underground
  23. mine — for digging
  24. lash — to lash out

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