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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: coach · fan · tube · bat · chest · cold · tear · mouse

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chest — a box
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. tube — the underground
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tube — a container
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. chest — of your body
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. bat — the animal
  24. tear — to rip

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