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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. race — a contest
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — rain
  7. race — the arms race
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. cold — an illness
  11. ball — a great time
  12. race — humankind
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pit — a hole
  19. roll — a list
  20. bark — to shout
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. roll — a cake
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. pit — in a race

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