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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 120 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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. race — a contest
  4. pass — a permit
  5. cold — not warm
  6. hand — help
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. ground — the earth
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. race — the arms race
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. hand — in cards
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. swing — in golf
  16. ground — crushed
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. race — humankind
  23. ground — a position
  24. swing — music

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