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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 116 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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. cold — not warm
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. plane — a tool
  6. pound — a weight
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. spring — of water
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. spring — a coil
  21. spring — the season
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. tube — a container
  24. cold — the Cold War

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