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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: pound · racket · kid · cold · roll · race

  1. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. race — a contest
  3. roll — a cake
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. cold — not warm
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. pound — a weight
  8. race — humankind
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. cold — an illness
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. roll — a list
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — child
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. race — the arms race

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