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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 120 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 · straw · wind · stick · tube · ruler · chip · bat

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. chip — for betting
  3. cold — not warm
  4. tube — the underground
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. wind — moving air
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. tube — a container
  19. cold — an illness
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. bat — the animal
  23. wind — moving air
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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