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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 116 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. race — a contest
  4. fine — all right
  5. wound — an injury
  6. fine — high quality
  7. last — final
  8. swing — music
  9. row — a line
  10. race — humankind
  11. swing — in golf
  12. wound — an injury
  13. shower — to wash
  14. last — to go on
  15. wind — moving air
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. race — the arms race
  19. row — to paddle
  20. last — finally
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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