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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. fall — to drop
  3. race — humankind
  4. kid — child
  5. current — happening now
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. cell — in biology
  8. fall — to drop
  9. clip — for paper
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. race — a contest
  12. fall — the season
  13. squash — to crush
  14. current — electric
  15. race — the arms race
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. current — of water
  18. clip — to cut
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. kid — to tease
  23. clip — a video
  24. cell — a phone

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