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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. file — a tool
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. stand — to bear
  9. cold — not warm
  10. file — a line of people
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. cold — an illness
  16. row — to paddle
  17. row — a line
  18. file — a document
  19. rush — hurry
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. tube — the underground
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. racket — for tennis

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