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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. root — of a word
  8. pit — in a race
  9. pit — a hole
  10. ball — a dance
  11. root — the cause
  12. ball — a great time
  13. race — the arms race
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. cold — an illness
  17. band — a ring
  18. clip — a video
  19. race — humankind
  20. cold — not warm
  21. clip — for paper
  22. root — of a plant
  23. clip — to cut
  24. band — a music group

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