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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. race — a contest
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. chest — of your body
  6. game — wild animals
  7. race — humankind
  8. march — music
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. cold — an illness
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. chest — a box
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. bass — low music
  17. game — a match
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. bass — the fish
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. race — the arms race
  23. cold — not warm
  24. row — a line

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