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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ground — a position
  3. toast — bread
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. race — humankind
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. file — a tool
  8. clip — for paper
  9. file — a line of people
  10. clip — to cut
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. race — the arms race
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. file — a document
  18. clip — a video
  19. race — a contest
  20. rush — hurry
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. ground — the earth

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