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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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. kid — to tease
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. game — wild animals
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. game — a match
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. last — to go on
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. last — final
  13. last — finally
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. swing — music
  18. cold — an illness
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — the arms race
  21. swing — in golf
  22. race — a contest
  23. kid — child
  24. swing — to play on

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