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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. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. date — the fruit
  2. cold — an illness
  3. root — of a word
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. root — the cause
  7. race — a contest
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. root — of a plant
  10. race — humankind
  11. race — the arms race
  12. vault — a safe
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. pound — a weight
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. clip — for paper
  21. sharp — clever
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. cold — the Cold War

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