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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. race — the arms race
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. kid — child
  5. race — a contest
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. snap — to click
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. race — humankind
  12. rash — hasty
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. dip — to sink
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. rash — a series
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. cold — not warm
  20. band — a music group
  21. cold — an illness
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. kid — to tease

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