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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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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When will it ________________ you to start?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. hand — help
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. chest — a box
  6. chest — of your body
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. chest — of your body
  11. tube — the underground
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — the season
  15. hand — in cards
  16. squash — the sport
  17. tube — a container
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. suit — in cards
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. squash — to crush
  22. suit — clothes
  23. cold — an illness
  24. suit — to fit

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