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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: straw · drill · pitch · last · tube · chest · cold · rash

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. last — to go on
  5. drill — a practice
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. chest — of your body
  8. last — finally
  9. tube — the underground
  10. rash — hasty
  11. pitch — completely
  12. drill — the tool
  13. chest — a box
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rash — a series
  17. chest — of your body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. drill — army training
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. tube — a container
  23. last — final
  24. straw — dry grass

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