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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. race — a contest
  3. dip — to sink
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. cold — not warm
  6. race — humankind
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. field — for sport
  11. last — finally
  12. last — to go on
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. field — a subject
  15. craft — boats
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. field — farmland
  18. craft — a skill
  19. clip — a video
  20. last — final
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. clip — for paper
  23. race — the arms race
  24. cold — an illness

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