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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: spring · cabinet · branch · file · mate · tube · cold · straw

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. mate — a friend
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. spring — the season
  6. file — a document
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. cold — not warm
  10. file — a tool
  11. file — a line of people
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. spring — a coil
  16. tube — the underground
  17. mate — to breed
  18. branch — a division
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. tube — a container
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. spring — of water

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