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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. rock — music
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. rock — a stone
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. kid — to tease
  9. march — the month
  10. march — music
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wake — a trail
  13. file — a document
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. wind — moving air
  16. race — the arms race
  17. pitch — completely
  18. march — the month
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. kid — child
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — humankind
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a tool

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