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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. saw — the tool
  3. race — the arms race
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. object — to protest
  6. chest — of your body
  7. object — an aim
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. chest — a box
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. object — a thing
  14. snap — to click
  15. last — finally
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. last — to go on
  18. race — humankind
  19. saw — the tool
  20. pound — a weight
  21. cold — an illness
  22. last — final
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. chest — of your body

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