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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. race — humankind
  5. mine — for digging
  6. cold — not warm
  7. band — a music group
  8. spell — a short time
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. race — the arms race
  11. tear — to rip
  12. tear — from crying
  13. race — a contest
  14. tear — from crying
  15. spell — letters
  16. cold — an illness
  17. band — a ring
  18. cold — the Cold War

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