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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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468
Word bank
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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. kick — in football
  3. tube — a container
  4. hand — in cards
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. press — to push
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. spring — the season
  10. press — newspapers
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. press — a publisher
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. key — for a lock
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. spring — a coil
  19. key — the most important part
  20. key — in music
  21. hand — help
  22. spring — of water
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. tube — the underground

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