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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. game — wild animals
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. wind — moving air
  9. game — a match
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. cap — a lid
  12. hand — in cards
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. race — a contest
  15. hand — help
  16. fall — the season
  17. race — humankind
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cap — of ice
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. fall — to drop
  22. tear — from crying
  23. fall — to drop
  24. race — the arms race

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