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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. swing — in golf
  3. file — a document
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. swing — to play on
  8. fine — all right
  9. race — humankind
  10. pass — a permit
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. file — a tool
  16. race — the arms race
  17. race — a contest
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. fine — high quality
  22. file — a line of people
  23. row — to paddle
  24. swing — music

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