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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. last — final
  3. race — a contest
  4. staff — employees
  5. race — humankind
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. staff — a stick
  8. cold — not warm
  9. last — finally
  10. race — the arms race
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. can — a tin
  13. can — to be able to
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. can — a tin
  16. kid — to tease
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. last — to go on
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. cold — an illness
  22. spell — letters
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. staff — employees

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