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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: rest · clip · cold · kid · scale · cabinet · tube · chest

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — an illness
  3. scale — size or range
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. scale — in music
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cold — not warm
  8. kid — to tease
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. rest — what's left
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. tube — a container
  14. rest — what's left
  15. chest — a box
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. clip — a video
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. chest — of your body
  22. rest — a break
  23. tube — the underground
  24. kid — child

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