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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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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: race · lean · tube · straw · cold · chest · snap · pit

  1. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — in a tire
  2. pit — in a race
  3. pit — a hole
  4. race — the arms race
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. lean — thin
  7. cold — an illness
  8. lean — to bend
  9. race — humankind
  10. chest — a box
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. snap — to click
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. race — a contest
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. tube — the underground
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. cold — not warm
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. tube — a container

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