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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. race — humankind
  7. bound — certain
  8. race — a contest
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cell — a phone
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. race — the arms race
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. bound — tied together
  17. snap — to click
  18. bound — obliged
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. game — a match

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