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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: race · kid · press · cold · fine · arm

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — to tease
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. race — humankind
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. press — a publisher
  11. press — to push
  12. fine — high quality
  13. cold — not warm
  14. cold — an illness
  15. race — the arms race
  16. press — newspapers
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. race — a contest

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