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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. cold — an illness
  3. race — a contest
  4. file — a line of people
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. foot — a measure
  8. sharp — clever
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. race — humankind
  11. cold — not warm
  12. track — a path
  13. tear — from crying
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. track — a song
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. date — the fruit
  20. race — the arms race
  21. tear — from crying
  22. file — a document
  23. tear — to rip
  24. file — a tool

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