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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. mug — to rob
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. race — a contest
  5. race — humankind
  6. roll — a list
  7. court — of law
  8. roll — a cake
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. file — a document
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. pitch — completely
  13. file — a tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. cold — an illness
  17. court — for sport
  18. race — the arms race
  19. court — of a king
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. file — a line of people
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. pound — a weight
  24. mug — a cup

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