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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. sharp — clever
  5. race — humankind
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. court — of law
  8. race — the arms race
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. shower — rain
  14. cold — an illness
  15. court — of a king
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — not warm
  20. deal — to handle
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. court — for sport
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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