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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 · mine · wind · band · squash · cold · foot · bear

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mine — for digging
  3. band — a ring
  4. squash — the sport
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. race — the arms race
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — moving air
  9. race — humankind
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. race — a contest
  12. band — a music group
  13. foot — the bottom
  14. foot — a measure
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. squash — to crush
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. bear — the animal
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. bear — the animal

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