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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 116 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: tube · cap · rest · sharp · field · cold · hide · straw

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. field — farmland
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. tube — a container
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. rest — a break
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. cap — a hat
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. tube — the underground
  13. cap — of ice
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. rest — what's left
  16. rest — what's left
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. sharp — clever
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. field — for sport
  23. field — a subject
  24. cap — a lid

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