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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. cold — not warm
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. hand — in cards
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. kid — child
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cold — an illness
  16. kid — to tease
  17. tube — the underground
  18. 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