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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: stick · wave · cold · kid · race · spring

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. kid — to tease
  8. spring — the season
  9. race — the arms race
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. spring — a coil
  15. race — humankind
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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