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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. game — a match
  6. race — the arms race
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. squash — to crush
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. race — a contest
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. cold — an illness
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. cold — not warm
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. race — humankind
  19. game — wild animals
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. lie — to recline
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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