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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 · coach · straw · stem · tube · scale · kid · wave

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. stem — to come from
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. scale — size or range
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. scale — in music
  13. tube — the underground
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. kid — to tease
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. kid — child

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