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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. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  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. race — humankind
  2. cue — a signal
  3. chest — a box
  4. sharp — clever
  5. swing — in golf
  6. race — a contest
  7. cue — for pool
  8. swing — music
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. race — the arms race
  12. swing — to play on
  13. file — a tool
  14. file — a document
  15. march — the month
  16. file — a line of people
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. march — music
  20. cue — a hint
  21. mine — for digging
  22. chest — of your body
  23. march — the month
  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