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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. file — a line of people
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. race — humankind
  5. cold — not warm
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. lie — to recline
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cold — an illness
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. band — a ring
  14. race — the arms race
  15. file — a tool
  16. race — a contest
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. file — a document
  23. band — a music group
  24. straw — a straw man

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