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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. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. squash — the sport
  3. race — humankind
  4. scale — in music
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. squash — to crush
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. race — the arms race
  14. rock — a stone
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. rock — music
  20. scale — size or range
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. race — a contest
  24. mark — a grade

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