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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. race — a contest
  3. rash — a series
  4. track — a song
  5. kid — to tease
  6. cold — an illness
  7. track — to keep track
  8. pop — soda
  9. pop — music
  10. track — a path
  11. rash — hasty
  12. race — the arms race
  13. pop — to visit
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. net — for catching
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. net — after costs
  20. race — humankind
  21. net — in sport
  22. kid — child
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rash — on the skin

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