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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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Word bank
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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: net · file · bear · ball · race · cold

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. net — for catching
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. race — a contest
  5. net — after costs
  6. bear — the animal
  7. file — a document
  8. race — the arms race
  9. ball — a great time
  10. cold — an illness
  11. file — a line of people
  12. bear — the animal
  13. file — a tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. ball — a dance
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. net — in sport

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