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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  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. key — the most important part
  2. press — newspapers
  3. cold — an illness
  4. race — the arms race
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bat — the animal
  8. wound — an injury
  9. race — a contest
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. press — to push
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. rush — hurry
  14. press — a publisher
  15. key — for a lock
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. race — humankind
  18. wake — a trail
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. key — in music
  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