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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. chip — for betting
  3. branch — a division
  4. rush — hurry
  5. race — humankind
  6. capital — money
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. court — for sport
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. race — a contest
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. race — the arms race
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. shower — to wash
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. chip — to eat
  20. court — of a king
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — rain
  23. capital — a city
  24. court — of law

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