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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 116 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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cold — an illness
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. content — happy
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. current — of water
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. file — a document
  12. race — a contest
  13. file — a tool
  14. fork — in a road
  15. cold — not warm
  16. race — humankind
  17. content — the amount
  18. current — happening now
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. shower — rain
  23. file — a line of people
  24. current — electric

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