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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. race — a contest
  3. cap — a hat
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. cap — a lid
  6. race — the arms race
  7. file — a tool
  8. game — a match
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. spell — a short time
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. game — wild animals
  13. spell — magic
  14. spell — letters
  15. rock — a stone
  16. file — a document
  17. present — a gift
  18. kick — in football
  19. cap — of ice
  20. present — the time now
  21. race — humankind
  22. file — a line of people
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. present — there

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