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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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. file — a tool
  4. race — humankind
  5. file — a line of people
  6. cold — an illness
  7. band — a ring
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. chip — to eat
  10. can — to be able to
  11. spring — the season
  12. cold — not warm
  13. spring — a coil
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. race — the arms race
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. band — a music group
  19. can — a tin
  20. can — a tin
  21. file — a document
  22. roll — a list
  23. roll — a cake
  24. chip — for betting

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