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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. wind — moving air
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. wind — moving air
  7. race — a contest
  8. spring — a coil
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. object — a thing
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. spring — the season
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. field — for sport
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. object — an aim
  22. race — the arms race
  23. object — to protest
  24. spring — of water

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