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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pound — a weight
  4. race — humankind
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bound — obliged
  8. rush — hurry
  9. bound — certain
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. clip — for paper
  12. race — the arms race
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. tear — to rip
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — from crying
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. race — a contest
  20. clip — a video
  21. bound — tied together
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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