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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. branch — a division
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. squash — to crush
  13. race — a contest
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. sharp — clever
  18. squash — the sport
  19. race — the arms race
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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