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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: cold · foot · fine · race · tube · capital · shower · lash

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. foot — a measure
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. fine — high quality
  6. cold — an illness
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. tube — the underground
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. capital — a city
  13. race — the arms race
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. race — a contest
  17. shower — rain
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. shower — to wash
  20. fine — all right
  21. race — humankind
  22. cold — not warm
  23. capital — money
  24. fine — a penalty

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