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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. spell — a short time
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — the arms race
  11. court — of a king
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. spell — magic
  16. pit — a hole
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. court — for sport
  20. race — humankind
  21. cold — not warm
  22. ruler — a monarch
  23. pit — in a race
  24. court — of law

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