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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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. saw — the tool
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. squash — the sport
  5. march — the month
  6. squash — to crush
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. present — there
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. file — a tool
  13. saw — the tool
  14. march — the month
  15. present — a gift
  16. clip — for paper
  17. present — the time now
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. race — humankind
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a line of people
  22. race — a contest
  23. march — music
  24. fan — to cool the air

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