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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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Word bank
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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: ground · kick · bowl · spring · race · cold

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. ground — a position
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. race — humankind
  6. race — the arms race
  7. spring — the season
  8. kick — in football
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. ground — crushed
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cold — not warm
  14. spring — a coil
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. spring — of water
  17. bowl — a dish
  18. cold — an illness

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