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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. race — a contest
  3. club — a group
  4. club — for dancing
  5. race — the arms race
  6. file — a tool
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — not warm
  9. file — a line of people
  10. drill — army training
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. chip — to eat
  13. club — for golf
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. chip — for betting
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. lean — thin
  19. race — humankind
  20. drill — the tool
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. file — a document
  23. cold — an illness
  24. drill — a practice

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