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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. fine — all right
  3. club — for dancing
  4. race — a contest
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. file — a tool
  8. march — the month
  9. march — music
  10. file — a document
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fine — high quality
  13. press — to push
  14. club — for golf
  15. march — the month
  16. press — newspapers
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. drill — the tool
  19. club — a group
  20. field — a subject
  21. press — a publisher
  22. file — a line of people
  23. drill — a practice
  24. drill — army training

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