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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. race — humankind
  4. band — a music group
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. race — a contest
  7. file — a document
  8. cell — in biology
  9. kid — to tease
  10. shower — to wash
  11. mate — a partner
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. band — a ring
  14. file — a tool
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. race — the arms race
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. shower — rain
  20. plane — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cell — a phone
  23. mate — a friend
  24. mate — to breed

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