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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: capital · kid · cold · race · lash · pit

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. 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. capital — a city
  2. pit — in a race
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. kid — to tease
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. kid — child
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. capital — money
  13. race — the arms race
  14. pit — a hole
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. race — a contest
  17. cold — not warm
  18. 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