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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. scale — in music
  4. court — of law
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wind — moving air
  7. court — for sport
  8. race — the arms race
  9. race — a contest
  10. scale — size or range
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. court — of a king
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. date — the fruit
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. band — a music group
  18. bass — low music
  19. bass — the fish
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. race — humankind
  24. band — a ring

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