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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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Word bank
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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: pop · season · tube · lie · snap · drill · cold · field

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. tube — the underground
  3. tube — a container
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. cold — an illness
  7. drill — the tool
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. season — in sport
  10. drill — a practice
  11. field — farmland
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. pop — soda
  15. drill — army training
  16. field — a subject
  17. pop — to visit
  18. snap — to click
  19. field — for sport
  20. pop — music
  21. season — of the year
  22. lie — to recline
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. lie — an untruth

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