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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 120 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. chest — of your body
  3. tube — a container
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. degree — temperature
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. land — a country
  8. chest — a box
  9. degree — from a university
  10. deal — to handle
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. degree — an amount
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. snap — to click
  16. chest — of your body
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. land — to come down
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. land — ground

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