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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 116 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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — an illness
  4. row — to paddle
  5. capital — money
  6. race — a contest
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. cold — not warm
  9. file — a tool
  10. spell — a short time
  11. spell — magic
  12. spell — letters
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a document
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. race — the arms race
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. safe — a strongbox
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. race — humankind

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