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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  3. capital — money
  4. wound — an injury
  5. swing — in golf
  6. capital — a city
  7. wax — to grow
  8. rush — hurry
  9. cold — an illness
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. swing — to play on
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. race — humankind
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. swing — music
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. bass — low music
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. bass — the fish
  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