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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. season — in sport
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. current — happening now
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. cold — not warm
  7. race — a contest
  8. lie — to recline
  9. race — humankind
  10. current — of water
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cell — a phone
  15. season — of the year
  16. band — a ring
  17. rash — hasty
  18. cold — an illness
  19. current — electric
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. rash — a series
  22. cell — in biology
  23. band — a music group
  24. race — the arms race

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