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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 124 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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. court — of a king
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hand — help
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. court — of law
  10. race — humankind
  11. hand — in cards
  12. march — the month
  13. court — for sport
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. tube — the underground
  16. kick — in football
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. cold — not warm
  19. race — a contest
  20. tube — a container
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. march — the month
  24. march — music

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