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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: bowl · bark · drill · tube · fall · cold · tear · plane

  1. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — in geometry
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. bark — to shout
  4. drill — army training
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fall — to drop
  8. plane — a tool
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. fall — to drop
  11. tear — from crying
  12. fall — the season
  13. tube — a container
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. tube — the underground
  17. drill — a practice
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. drill — the tool

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