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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. capital — money
  4. hand — in cards
  5. track — a path
  6. tube — the underground
  7. hand — help
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. fall — to drop
  10. track — to keep track
  11. fall — to drop
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. capital — a city
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. tube — a container
  19. fall — the season
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. cold — not warm
  24. track — a song

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