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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bat — the animal
  4. race — a contest
  5. prune — to trim
  6. band — a ring
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cold — not warm
  10. race — humankind
  11. mate — to breed
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. wind — moving air
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. band — a music group
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. mate — a partner
  22. race — the arms race
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mate — a friend

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