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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. mate — a partner
  3. ground — the earth
  4. ground — a position
  5. hand — help
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. rash — a series
  8. season — in sport
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mate — to breed
  11. season — of the year
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. cold — an illness
  14. race — humankind
  15. cold — not warm
  16. ground — crushed
  17. game — wild animals
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. mate — a friend
  22. race — the arms race
  23. game — a match
  24. rash — hasty

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