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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 120 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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. staff — employees
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. race — the arms race
  8. race — a contest
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. ground — a position
  11. court — for sport
  12. tube — the underground
  13. cold — an illness
  14. sharp — clever
  15. court — of law
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. ground — the earth
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. race — humankind
  20. staff — employees
  21. ground — crushed
  22. court — of a king
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. staff — a stick

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