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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. spring — a coil
  3. race — humankind
  4. spring — the season
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. kid — child
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wind — moving air
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. kid — to tease
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. wind — moving air
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. spring — of water
  24. race — the arms race

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