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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. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cell — in biology
  4. mate — to breed
  5. race — a contest
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. hand — help
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cell — a phone
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hand — in cards
  13. drill — army training
  14. swing — music
  15. mate — a partner
  16. kid — child
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. drill — the tool
  19. swing — to play on
  20. race — the arms race
  21. mate — a friend
  22. kid — to tease
  23. drill — a practice
  24. race — humankind

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