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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — in football
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. race — a contest
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. season — in sport
  7. perch — the fish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — hasty
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. race — humankind
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. season — of the year
  21. race — the arms race
  22. rash — a series
  23. cold — an illness
  24. fan — a supporter

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