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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 116 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: march · pound · file · chair · stem · stock · tube · wound

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. wound — an injury
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. file — a line of people
  6. chair — a leader
  7. march — the month
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. wound — an injury
  10. tube — the underground
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. file — a document
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. stock — goods
  17. file — a tool
  18. pound — a weight
  19. stem — to come from
  20. stock — shares
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. tube — a container
  24. stem — 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