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

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. race — a contest
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. race — humankind
  5. band — a ring
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pound — a weight
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. cold — an illness
  10. race — the arms race
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cell — a phone
  15. fall — to drop
  16. chest — of your body
  17. band — a music group
  18. cell — in biology
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. chest — a box
  21. cold — not warm
  22. fall — the season
  23. kick — in football
  24. fall — to drop

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