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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: tear · spring · cold · hide · jam · tube · foot · drill

  1. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — in traffic
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. spring — the season
  4. tube — a container
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. spring — of water
  8. cold — not warm
  9. tear — from crying
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. tear — to rip
  12. spring — a coil
  13. tear — from crying
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. drill — the tool
  16. tube — the underground
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. foot — a measure
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. drill — a practice
  22. cold — an illness
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. drill — army training

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