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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. race — a contest
  5. degree — temperature
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — for catching
  8. tear — from crying
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. fall — to drop
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. row — to paddle
  13. race — the arms race
  14. degree — an amount
  15. tear — to rip
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. net — in sport
  19. fall — the season
  20. degree — from a university
  21. row — a line
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. fall — to drop
  24. tear — from crying

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