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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. clip — a video
  3. race — humankind
  4. mine — for digging
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. bound — tied together
  7. fall — to drop
  8. bound — certain
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. fall — the season
  11. race — the arms race
  12. bound — obliged
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. clip — for paper
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. dip — to sink
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. fall — to drop
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. clip — to cut
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. cold — an illness

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