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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: cold · rest · tube · spring · snap · lie · chair · hand

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. rest — what's left
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. tube — the underground
  9. snap — to click
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. rest — a break
  12. spring — a coil
  13. tube — a container
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. hand — help
  17. spring — of water
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. rest — what's left
  21. lie — to recline
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. spring — the season
  24. chair — a leader

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