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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. race — a contest
  5. cold — not warm
  6. prune — to trim
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. rash — a series
  9. race — the arms race
  10. race — humankind
  11. prune — to trim
  12. last — final
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. rash — hasty
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pitch — completely
  20. last — to go on
  21. rush — hurry
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. last — finally
  24. rash — on the skin

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