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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: last · cold · drill · tube · tear · chip · file · sharp

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. tube — a container
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. tear — from crying
  6. chip — to eat
  7. last — to go on
  8. tear — to rip
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chip — for betting
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. last — finally
  13. tube — the underground
  14. file — a document
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — the tool
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. drill — army training
  19. file — a tool
  20. sharp — clever
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. file — a line of people
  23. last — final
  24. tear — from crying

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