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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 116 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: bowl · tear · squash · kid · race · swing

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. 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. bowl — a dish
  2. swing — in golf
  3. squash — the sport
  4. tear — from crying
  5. squash — to crush
  6. race — a contest
  7. race — humankind
  8. kid — to tease
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. tear — to rip
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. swing — to play on
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. kid — child
  16. swing — music
  17. tear — from crying
  18. 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