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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spring — of water
  3. wax — to grow
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. spring — a coil
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. spring — the season
  9. key — the most important part
  10. game — wild animals
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. key — for a lock
  16. race — the arms race
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. game — a match
  19. calf — of the leg
  20. key — in music
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. race — a contest
  23. cold — an illness
  24. race — humankind

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