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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. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — for digging
  4. pop — to visit
  5. race — a contest
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. pop — music
  8. capital — money
  9. pop — soda
  10. race — the arms race
  11. drill — a practice
  12. field — a subject
  13. drill — the tool
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. drill — army training
  18. capital — a city
  19. field — for sport
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. field — farmland
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. race — humankind

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