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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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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: pass · tube · bark · arm · craft · content · firm · cold

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. craft — a skill
  5. firm — a company
  6. firm — decided
  7. craft — boats
  8. cold — an illness
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. cold — not warm
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. firm — steady
  13. tube — a container
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bark — to shout
  18. tube — the underground
  19. pass — a permit
  20. content — the amount
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. pass — to succeed
  24. content — videos and posts

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