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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 120 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. race — the arms race
  3. last — to go on
  4. race — humankind
  5. last — final
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. ground — the earth
  9. ground — a position
  10. race — a contest
  11. prune — to trim
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. swing — to play on
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. cold — not warm
  17. ground — crushed
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cell — a phone
  21. cold — an illness
  22. swing — in golf
  23. swing — music
  24. cell — in a prison

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