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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. race — humankind
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. club — for golf
  5. race — a contest
  6. band — a ring
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. club — for dancing
  11. band — a music group
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. present — the time now
  16. ball — a great time
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. ball — a dance
  19. club — a group
  20. bulb — for light
  21. present — a gift
  22. cold — an illness
  23. date — the fruit
  24. bulb — for light

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