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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.

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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. drill — the tool
  3. degree — from a university
  4. wound — an injury
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — to tease
  7. tube — a container
  8. wound — an injury
  9. tube — the underground
  10. kid — child
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. drill — a practice
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. saw — the tool
  18. drill — army training
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. stem — to come from
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. degree — temperature
  23. degree — an amount
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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