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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. spring — of water
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. race — humankind
  6. row — a line
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. race — the arms race
  9. bass — the fish
  10. row — to paddle
  11. spring — a coil
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. pitch — completely
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bore — to drill
  16. bore — to tire
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bass — low music
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spring — the season
  23. race — a contest
  24. cold — the Cold War

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