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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. spell — letters
  3. race — the arms race
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spell — a short time
  6. content — happy
  7. current — electric
  8. row — a line
  9. race — a contest
  10. spell — magic
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. rush — hurry
  13. sharp — clever
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. current — of water
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. current — happening now
  20. row — to paddle
  21. content — the amount
  22. cold — not warm
  23. race — humankind
  24. cold — the Cold War

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