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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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kid — to tease
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. race — the arms race
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. rash — hasty
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. file — a line of people
  11. rash — a series
  12. race — a contest
  13. file — a tool
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. mark — a trace
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. mine — for digging
  18. race — humankind
  19. mark — a grade
  20. file — a document
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. cold — an illness

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