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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. cap — a hat
  4. wound — an injury
  5. tube — a container
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fall — to drop
  8. tube — the underground
  9. chip — for betting
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — to drop
  12. cap — of ice
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. capital — money
  15. chip — to eat
  16. cap — a lid
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. wound — an injury
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. fall — the season

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