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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. bound — tied together
  5. court — of law
  6. bound — certain
  7. cap — of ice
  8. court — for sport
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. cold — not warm
  11. race — the arms race
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a document
  14. race — a contest
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. race — humankind
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. file — a line of people
  22. court — of a king
  23. cap — a lid
  24. chair — a leader

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