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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Did you ________________ the button?
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. race — humankind
  4. tube — a container
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. lean — to bend
  7. clip — for paper
  8. tube — the underground
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. press — to push
  11. race — the arms race
  12. press — newspapers
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. clip — a video
  17. pound — a weight
  18. press — a publisher
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. lean — thin
  23. cold — not warm
  24. clip — to cut

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