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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: club · toast · pound · cold · race · mug

  1. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. mug — a face
  4. race — humankind
  5. cold — not warm
  6. race — a contest
  7. pound — a weight
  8. mug — a cup
  9. race — the arms race
  10. toast — bread
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. club — for dancing
  13. club — for golf
  14. mug — to rob
  15. club — a group
  16. toast — a drink to someone
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War

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