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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. cue — a signal
  3. race — humankind
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. pit — in a race
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mate — a partner
  8. race — a contest
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. cue — for pool
  13. tear — to rip
  14. race — the arms race
  15. cue — a hint
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mate — to breed
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mate — a friend
  23. pit — a hole
  24. mine — belonging to me

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