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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · dip · pound · tear · kick · tube

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tube — the underground
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. pound — a weight
  9. kick — in football
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. tube — a container
  16. tear — to rip
  17. dip — to sink
  18. cold — not warm

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