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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. bank — of a river
  3. net — after costs
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wound — an injury
  6. tube — a container
  7. net — for catching
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. net — in sport
  10. fall — to drop
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bank — for money
  15. tube — the underground
  16. fall — to drop
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. bank — for money
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wax — to grow
  24. cold — the Cold War

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