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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  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. wind — moving air
  2. file — a document
  3. file — a tool
  4. bound — certain
  5. race — a contest
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bound — obliged
  10. chip — to eat
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bound — tied together
  13. chip — for betting
  14. capital — money
  15. wind — moving air
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. race — humankind
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. file — a line of people
  22. capital — a city
  23. race — the arms race
  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