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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: track · mug · land · hand · clip · cold · present · tube

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. land — a country
  3. track — to keep track
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mug — a cup
  6. mug — a face
  7. hand — help
  8. clip — a video
  9. tube — the underground
  10. mug — to rob
  11. clip — for paper
  12. tube — a container
  13. hand — in cards
  14. present — the time now
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. land — ground
  19. track — a path
  20. clip — to cut
  21. track — a song
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. present — a gift
  24. land — to come down

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