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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. game — wild animals
  6. bear — the animal
  7. clip — for paper
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. race — the arms race
  13. plane — a tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. stock — goods
  17. stock — shares
  18. clip — to cut
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. race — a contest
  21. game — a match
  22. bear — the animal
  23. clip — a video
  24. game — a kind of play

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