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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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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: mark · pitcher · chest · row · tube · fall · cold · ruler

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. tube — the underground
  6. mark — a trace
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. mark — a grade
  9. cold — an illness
  10. fall — the season
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — to drop
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. tube — a container
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. chest — a box
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. ruler — for measuring

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