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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: straw · kid · last · cold · toast · race

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cold — not warm
  4. toast — bread
  5. race — humankind
  6. kid — child
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. race — a contest
  11. last — to go on
  12. cold — an illness
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. last — final
  15. toast — a drink to someone
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — a straw man

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