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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. board — to get on
  4. key — in music
  5. board — a committee
  6. tear — from crying
  7. key — for a lock
  8. tube — a container
  9. last — finally
  10. file — a tool
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. key — the most important part
  13. cold — an illness
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. file — a document
  19. tube — the underground
  20. file — a line of people
  21. fork — in a road
  22. last — final
  23. last — to go on
  24. fork — a garden tool

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