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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. race — a contest
  3. can — a tin
  4. spring — of water
  5. last — to go on
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. race — the arms race
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. can — to be able to
  10. race — humankind
  11. band — a music group
  12. spring — the season
  13. last — final
  14. last — finally
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. dip — to sink
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. band — a ring
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. can — a tin
  24. spring — a coil

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