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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. race — humankind
  5. face — part of the head
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cold — not warm
  8. craft — a skill
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. race — a contest
  11. face — to point toward
  12. face — to confront
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. race — the arms race
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. craft — boats
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. sharp — clever
  24. cold — the Cold War

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