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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. club — for golf
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. bass — the fish
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. bass — low music
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. club — a group
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. race — the arms race
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wind — moving air
  16. race — a contest
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. club — for dancing
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. sharp — clever
  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