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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. race — the arms race
  3. fall — to drop
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — humankind
  6. spell — magic
  7. spell — letters
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. cold — not warm
  10. game — wild animals
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. fall — to drop
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. spell — a short time
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. fall — the season
  21. pass — a permit
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. cold — an illness

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