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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fall — to drop
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. track — a path
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bound — obliged
  8. bound — certain
  9. track — to keep track
  10. deal — to handle
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. root — of a word
  15. root — the cause
  16. spring — a coil
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. bound — tied together
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — a contest
  21. root — of a plant
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. spring — of water
  24. track — a song

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