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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. file — a document
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. file — a tool
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. cold — an illness
  12. saw — the tool
  13. file — a line of people
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. cold — not warm
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. race — humankind
  19. saw — the tool
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — a contest
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. jam — in traffic

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