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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. perch — the fish
  4. cold — not warm
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. wound — an injury
  8. tear — from crying
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bear — the animal
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. wound — an injury
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. bear — the animal
  20. chest — a box
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. chest — of your body
  23. tube — a container
  24. tear — to rip

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