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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. rush — hurry
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. pound — a weight
  19. cap — of ice
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cap — a hat
  22. cap — a lid
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. spring — of water

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