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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 ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. race — the arms race
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. race — humankind
  9. fall — to drop
  10. saw — the tool
  11. race — a contest
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. saw — the tool
  15. fall — the season
  16. root — the cause
  17. fall — to drop
  18. root — of a plant
  19. root — of a word
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. shower — rain
  22. bore — to drill
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. bore — to tire

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