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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. race — humankind
  3. swing — to play on
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. tear — to rip
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. swing — music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. land — a country
  10. race — a contest
  11. pop — to visit
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cap — of ice
  14. cap — a hat
  15. land — ground
  16. cap — a lid
  17. stock — goods
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. stock — shares
  20. tear — from crying
  21. land — to come down
  22. pop — soda
  23. mine — for digging
  24. swing — in golf

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