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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rash — a series
  3. rash — hasty
  4. shower — to wash
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. row — to paddle
  7. race — humankind
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. race — a contest
  11. race — the arms race
  12. shower — rain
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. row — a line
  15. rule — government
  16. rule — a law
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. cold — not warm
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitcher — a jug

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