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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. race — a contest
  3. last — final
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. wind — moving air
  6. file — a document
  7. current — of water
  8. current — electric
  9. last — finally
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. file — a tool
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. race — humankind
  15. race — the arms race
  16. current — happening now
  17. file — a line of people
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. pitch — completely
  21. capital — money
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. capital — a city

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