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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. race — humankind
  3. deal — to handle
  4. bass — the fish
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. clip — a video
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. wind — moving air
  13. race — the arms race
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cold — not warm
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. clip — to cut
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cold — an illness
  21. race — a contest
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. bass — low music
  24. bass — the instrument

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