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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. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. tube — the underground
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. swing — to play on
  5. tube — a container
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pitch — completely
  9. band — a ring
  10. current — of water
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. band — a music group
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. cold — not warm
  19. swing — in golf
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. current — happening now
  22. swing — music
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. current — electric

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