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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 124 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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. sharp — clever
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. race — humankind
  7. net — for catching
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. race — a contest
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. tube — a container
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. saw — the tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tube — the underground
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. net — after costs
  20. date — the fruit
  21. race — the arms race
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. saw — the 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