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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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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. wake — a trail
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — farmland
  8. tube — a container
  9. fine — all right
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. cue — a hint
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cue — a signal
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. tube — the underground
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. fine — high quality
  18. dip — to sink
  19. chest — of your body
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. chest — a box
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — a subject
  24. cue — for pool

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