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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: fan · stand · tube · kid · cell · wind · spring · clip

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. cell — in biology
  3. kid — to tease
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. stand — to bear
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — the season
  12. kid — child
  13. wind — moving air
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. spring — of water
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. clip — for paper
  18. spring — a coil
  19. clip — a video
  20. tube — the underground
  21. cell — a phone
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. tube — a container
  24. fan — a supporter

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