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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. spring — of water
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. last — to go on
  6. tube — the underground
  7. last — final
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spring — the season
  10. last — finally
  11. bat — the animal
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. staff — employees
  14. staff — employees
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. spring — a coil
  21. tube — a container
  22. staff — a stick
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. dip — to sink

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