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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tube — a container
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. kid — to tease
  7. cold — an illness
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. track — a song
  10. track — to keep track
  11. cold — not warm
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. track — a path
  16. court — for sport
  17. mine — for digging
  18. court — of a king
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. kid — child
  22. court — of law
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. lash — to lash out

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