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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. drill — army training
  4. race — the arms race
  5. march — music
  6. file — a tool
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. file — a line of people
  9. drill — the tool
  10. board — a committee
  11. kid — to tease
  12. tear — to rip
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. kid — child
  15. tear — from crying
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. drill — a practice
  18. race — a contest
  19. march — the month
  20. tear — from crying
  21. board — to get on
  22. march — the month
  23. race — humankind
  24. file — a document

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