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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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. race — humankind
  3. lie — to recline
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. hand — help
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. bass — low music
  9. race — the arms race
  10. race — a contest
  11. bass — the fish
  12. hand — in cards
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. game — a match
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — not warm
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cold — an illness
  22. ground — a position
  23. mark — a trace
  24. ground — the earth

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