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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: chest · tear · tube · band · pitcher · cue · fan · spring

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cue — a hint
  3. chest — a box
  4. tear — from crying
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. chest — of your body
  8. tube — a container
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a music group
  12. spring — a coil
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. cue — a signal
  16. tear — to rip
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. spring — of water
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. cue — for pool
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. spring — the season
  24. tube — the underground

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