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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: cold · sharp · nail · saw · game · tube · land · spring

  1. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. game — wild animals
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tube — a container
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. saw — the tool
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. spring — the season
  13. sharp — clever
  14. cold — not warm
  15. spring — of water
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. tube — the underground
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. land — a country
  21. land — to come down
  22. spring — a coil
  23. land — ground
  24. sharp — with an edge

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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