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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. mine — for digging
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. race — a contest
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. file — a line of people
  9. file — a tool
  10. fork — in a road
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. band — a ring
  14. band — a music group
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. race — the arms race
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. file — a document
  20. race — humankind
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. lash — a whip stroke
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. ruler — for measuring

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