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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 polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. wind — moving air
  3. file — a document
  4. ground — a position
  5. last — final
  6. race — a contest
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. cap — a lid
  10. last — finally
  11. race — the arms race
  12. row — a line
  13. ground — the earth
  14. file — a line of people
  15. chair — a leader
  16. last — to go on
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. race — humankind
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. wind — moving air
  21. ground — crushed
  22. file — a tool
  23. cap — a hat
  24. row — to paddle

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