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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: swing · season · cold · straw · tube · sharp · temple · stock

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. stock — goods
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. season — in sport
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. swing — in golf
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. stock — shares
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. season — of the year
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. sharp — clever
  21. swing — to play on
  22. tube — the underground
  23. cold — an illness
  24. swing — music

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