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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. fall — the season
  6. row — a line
  7. wound — an injury
  8. race — humankind
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. fall — to drop
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — from a university
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. vault — a safe
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. degree — an amount
  17. kid — to tease
  18. mine — for digging
  19. kid — child
  20. row — to paddle
  21. fall — to drop
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. degree — temperature
  24. race — the arms race

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