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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 116 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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. fall — the season
  4. race — humankind
  5. race — a contest
  6. ground — a position
  7. fall — to drop
  8. hand — help
  9. ground — the earth
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. ground — crushed
  12. root — of a word
  13. hand — in cards
  14. row — to paddle
  15. row — a line
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. root — of a plant
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. root — the cause
  21. cold — an illness
  22. race — the arms race
  23. fall — to drop
  24. cold — not warm

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