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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 want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. board — to get on
  3. bound — tied together
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. game — a match
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bound — certain
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. cold — not warm
  14. board — a committee
  15. bound — obliged
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. row — a line
  18. game — wild animals
  19. tube — the underground
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. wax — to grow
  23. row — to paddle
  24. straw — a straw man

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