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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. drill — army training
  3. cold — not warm
  4. race — the arms race
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. net — in sport
  7. cap — of ice
  8. cold — an illness
  9. drill — a practice
  10. cap — a hat
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. race — humankind
  14. net — for catching
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — to cut
  17. race — a contest
  18. drill — the tool
  19. sharp — clever
  20. pound — a weight
  21. net — after costs
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. clip — a video
  24. cap — a lid

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