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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. foot — a measure
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spring — the season
  6. file — a line of people
  7. spring — a coil
  8. drill — the tool
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. charge — in control
  12. charge — electricity
  13. branch — a division
  14. spring — of water
  15. drill — a practice
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. tube — a container
  22. tube — the underground
  23. charge — a price
  24. drill — army training

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