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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: fork · rash · swing · race · cold · fall

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. race — humankind
  3. swing — in golf
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rash — a series
  7. fall — to drop
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. cold — not warm
  10. race — the arms race
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. cold — an illness
  13. race — a contest
  14. fall — the season
  15. rash — hasty
  16. swing — to play on
  17. swing — music
  18. fork — in a road

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