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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 116 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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. cell — in biology
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. race — humankind
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. ground — crushed
  12. shower — rain
  13. cold — not warm
  14. ground — a position
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cell — a phone
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. race — the arms race
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. game — wild animals
  23. game — a match
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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