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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. chest — a box
  3. pit — a hole
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. file — a line of people
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. bank — of a river
  9. file — a document
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. bank — for money
  12. file — a tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. pit — in a race
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. tube — the underground
  20. chest — of your body
  21. bank — for money
  22. cold — not warm
  23. plane — a tool
  24. chest — of your body

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