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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. wake — a trail
  3. race — humankind
  4. cold — not warm
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. present — there
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. squash — to crush
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. bark — to shout
  16. mine — for digging
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. present — the time now
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — a contest
  24. mine — belonging to me

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