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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. race — the arms race
  5. band — a music group
  6. race — a contest
  7. cell — a phone
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. hand — in cards
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. season — of the year
  13. tear — from crying
  14. race — humankind
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. lie — to recline
  17. tear — from crying
  18. season — in sport
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. tear — to rip
  21. cell — in biology
  22. game — wild animals
  23. band — a ring
  24. hand — help

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