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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. mate — a partner
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. wind — moving air
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. tear — to rip
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. tear — from crying
  11. field — a subject
  12. race — the arms race
  13. march — the month
  14. mate — a friend
  15. shower — rain
  16. race — humankind
  17. field — farmland
  18. march — the month
  19. shower — to wash
  20. field — for sport
  21. march — music
  22. sharp — clever
  23. tear — from crying
  24. mate — to breed

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