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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. spell — magic
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spell — letters
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. saw — the tool
  9. race — the arms race
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bark — to shout
  13. spell — a short time
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. bat — the animal
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. snap — to click
  21. saw — the tool
  22. race — humankind
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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