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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. game — wild animals
  4. rest — what's left
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. cold — an illness
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. bat — the animal
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. safe — a strongbox
  15. rest — what's left
  16. mine — for digging
  17. rest — a break
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — humankind
  20. game — a match
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. race — the arms race
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. patient — a sick person

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