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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. race — a contest
  3. snap — to click
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. race — the arms race
  6. field — farmland
  7. chest — of your body
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. field — a subject
  11. chest — a box
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. march — music
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. march — the month
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. content — the amount
  19. chest — of your body
  20. content — happy
  21. field — for sport
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. march — the month
  24. patient — a sick person

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