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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: rock · land · last · lean · present · cold · race · snap

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. last — to go on
  3. present — there
  4. land — to come down
  5. race — the arms race
  6. lean — thin
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. rock — a stone
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. cold — an illness
  11. lean — to bend
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. snap — to click
  14. cold — not warm
  15. land — a country
  16. race — humankind
  17. present — a gift
  18. present — the time now
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. last — final
  21. race — a contest
  22. land — ground
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. last — finally

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