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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 felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. wound — an injury
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. craft — a skill
  5. race — the arms race
  6. net — after costs
  7. squash — the sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — a contest
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. net — for catching
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. race — humankind
  16. craft — boats
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wound — an injury
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. squash — to crush
  23. net — in sport
  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