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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. file — a tool
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. race — humankind
  5. cold — an illness
  6. craft — a skill
  7. kid — to tease
  8. track — a song
  9. race — the arms race
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a line of people
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. pit — in a race
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. kid — child
  18. cold — not warm
  19. track — a path
  20. craft — boats
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. race — a contest
  24. track — to keep track

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