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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 120 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: bear · cold · cabinet · snap · row · bat · mouse · tube

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. tube — a container
  3. snap — to click
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — the animal
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. bear — the animal
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bear — the animal
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. row — a line
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. tube — the underground
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. mouse — for a computer

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