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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. spring — of water
  3. root — of a word
  4. spring — a coil
  5. rest — what's left
  6. last — finally
  7. fall — to drop
  8. race — a contest
  9. ground — crushed
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. race — humankind
  12. ground — a position
  13. cold — an illness
  14. root — the cause
  15. last — final
  16. rest — a break
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — the season
  19. root — of a plant
  20. fall — the season
  21. rest — what's left
  22. ground — the earth
  23. fall — to drop
  24. race — the arms race

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