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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 120 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 · chair · club · cold · spell · drill · cabinet · squash

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. club — for golf
  3. race — a contest
  4. club — a group
  5. race — the arms race
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. club — for dancing
  11. chair — a leader
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. spell — letters
  14. drill — army training
  15. cold — an illness
  16. drill — the tool
  17. spell — magic
  18. cold — not warm
  19. spell — a short time
  20. drill — a practice
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. squash — to crush
  23. race — humankind
  24. squash — the vegetable

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