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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. spring — of water
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spring — the season
  7. cell — a phone
  8. chest — a box
  9. pop — to visit
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. kid — child
  12. chest — of your body
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pop — music
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. race — humankind
  18. race — a contest
  19. cell — in biology
  20. kid — to tease
  21. race — the arms race
  22. pop — soda
  23. chest — of your body
  24. fine — all right

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