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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: race · clip · pit · pitcher · cold · tear

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. clip — for paper
  3. race — humankind
  4. race — a contest
  5. cold — not warm
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. clip — to cut
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pit — a hole
  10. clip — a video
  11. pit — in a race
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tear — to rip
  17. race — the arms race
  18. tear — from crying

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