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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. tube — a container
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. chip — to eat
  9. chest — of your body
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chip — for betting
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tube — the underground
  17. bank — for money
  18. chest — a box
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. bat — the animal
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bank — of a river
  24. bank — for money

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