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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pitcher · clip · cold · kick · race · racket

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. race — humankind
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. race — the arms race
  8. clip — for paper
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. clip — a video
  11. cold — not warm
  12. race — a contest
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. kick — in football

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