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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. jam — a tight spot
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. pop — to visit
  7. kid — child
  8. tear — to rip
  9. content — happy
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. kid — to tease
  12. race — a contest
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. pop — soda
  15. race — the arms race
  16. cold — an illness
  17. race — humankind
  18. pop — music
  19. row — a line
  20. row — to paddle
  21. tear — from crying
  22. content — the amount
  23. tear — from crying
  24. cold — not warm

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