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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 120 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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. saw — the tool
  4. press — newspapers
  5. cold — not warm
  6. content — happy
  7. march — the month
  8. press — to push
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. content — the amount
  11. mine — for digging
  12. saw — the tool
  13. race — the arms race
  14. march — the month
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — to trim
  21. march — music
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. press — a publisher
  24. race — a contest

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