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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. safe — a strongbox
  3. clip — a video
  4. prune — to trim
  5. object — to protest
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. object — an aim
  10. cold — an illness
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. field — a subject
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. field — for sport
  17. race — a contest
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. object — a thing
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. field — farmland
  24. clip — to cut

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