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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: swing · lash · hand · stand · drill · tube · chair · cold

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. tube — the underground
  4. tube — a container
  5. drill — a practice
  6. hand — help
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. hand — in cards
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. swing — music
  14. drill — the tool
  15. stand — to bear
  16. cold — not warm
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. swing — in golf
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. swing — to play on
  22. drill — army training
  23. chair — a leader
  24. stand — for spectators

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