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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. hand — help
  3. race — humankind
  4. cold — not warm
  5. club — a group
  6. bass — the fish
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. club — for golf
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. march — the month
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. club — for dancing
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bass — low music
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. race — the arms race
  19. march — music
  20. wax — to grow
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. march — the month
  23. hand — in cards
  24. pitcher — a jug

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