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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. race — humankind
  3. degree — an amount
  4. race — the arms race
  5. key — in music
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — not warm
  8. tear — from crying
  9. key — the most important part
  10. cold — an illness
  11. race — a contest
  12. rock — a stone
  13. rock — music
  14. degree — temperature
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. key — for a lock
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. degree — from a university
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. tear — to rip
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. hand — in cards

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