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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: file · tube · cold · spell · perch · straw · wound · bowl

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. file — a document
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. wound — an injury
  7. tube — the underground
  8. perch — the fish
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. spell — letters
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. spell — magic
  15. spell — a short time
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wound — an injury
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. tube — a container
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a tool
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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