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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. race — a contest
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. race — humankind
  7. cold — an illness
  8. dip — to sink
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. rush — hurry
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. race — the arms race
  14. cold — not warm
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. plane — a tool
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. bat — the animal
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. mine — for digging

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