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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bear — the animal
  3. club — for dancing
  4. race — humankind
  5. race — a contest
  6. spring — a coil
  7. club — a group
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. file — a tool
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. kid — to tease
  14. spring — of water
  15. spring — the season
  16. bat — the animal
  17. file — a document
  18. pass — a permit
  19. club — for golf
  20. race — the arms race
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. file — a line of people
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. bat — in an idiom

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