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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. present — the time now
  6. cell — in biology
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. fine — all right
  9. ground — a position
  10. present — there
  11. fine — high quality
  12. race — the arms race
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. present — a gift
  15. bat — the animal
  16. ground — the earth
  17. ground — crushed
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cell — a phone
  21. race — a contest
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. clip — a video
  24. mine — an explosive

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