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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. spring — of water
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. rock — music
  8. tube — a container
  9. rock — a stone
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. tear — from crying
  14. dip — to sink
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. spring — a coil
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. cold — an illness
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. spring — the season
  21. game — wild animals
  22. cold — not warm
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. game — a match

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