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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. fall — to drop
  3. swing — in golf
  4. last — final
  5. swing — to play on
  6. last — to go on
  7. rule — government
  8. fall — the season
  9. current — happening now
  10. fall — to drop
  11. swing — music
  12. race — a contest
  13. rule — a law
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. sharp — clever
  17. race — humankind
  18. current — of water
  19. current — electric
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. race — the arms race
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. sharp — exactly

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