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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. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. bank — for money
  2. tube — a container
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. sharp — clever
  5. race — humankind
  6. spring — a coil
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. race — a contest
  9. tube — the underground
  10. race — the arms race
  11. bank — for money
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. current — electric
  15. current — happening now
  16. spring — of water
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. spring — the season
  19. cold — not warm
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. bank — of a river
  22. current — of water
  23. cold — an illness
  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