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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: row · cap · content · race · straw · sharp · branch · rule

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. content — happy
  3. cap — of ice
  4. rule — government
  5. cap — a lid
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. sharp — clever
  8. row — a line
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. race — a contest
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. race — the arms race
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — a law
  17. race — humankind
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. content — the amount
  22. branch — a division
  23. row — to paddle
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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