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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 116 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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. race — a contest
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. shower — to wash
  6. tube — the underground
  7. race — humankind
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. tear — from crying
  11. net — after costs
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. march — the month
  14. tube — a container
  15. net — for catching
  16. cold — not warm
  17. tear — to rip
  18. march — the month
  19. tear — from crying
  20. march — music
  21. net — in sport
  22. race — the arms race
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. shower — rain

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