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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. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. spring — the season
  3. cold — an illness
  4. shower — rain
  5. ground — crushed
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. present — there
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. ground — the earth
  11. present — a gift
  12. wax — to grow
  13. race — a contest
  14. wound — an injury
  15. ground — a position
  16. spring — of water
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. race — humankind
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. spring — a coil
  21. present — the time now
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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