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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. race — a contest
  3. race — the arms race
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a document
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. spring — a coil
  10. root — of a plant
  11. track — a song
  12. squash — to crush
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. spring — the season
  15. sharp — clever
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. root — of a word
  18. race — humankind
  19. root — the cause
  20. track — to keep track
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. file — a tool
  23. squash — the sport
  24. track — a path

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