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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
468
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: key · cold · tube · land · prune · mark · chip · straw

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — a country
  3. key — for a lock
  4. cold — an illness
  5. tube — the underground
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. key — in music
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. chip — to eat
  10. land — ground
  11. tube — a container
  12. cold — not warm
  13. key — the most important part
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. mark — a grade
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mark — a trace
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. chip — for betting
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — to trim

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