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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 120 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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. clip — for paper
  3. cold — an illness
  4. race — the arms race
  5. cold — not warm
  6. race — a contest
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rush — hurry
  11. degree — temperature
  12. lie — to recline
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. degree — from a university
  15. board — to get on
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. race — humankind
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. degree — an amount
  21. clip — to cut
  22. board — a committee
  23. clip — a video
  24. dip — to sink

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