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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 · wave · dip · pit · tube · court · pitcher · cold

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. tube — the underground
  4. cold — an illness
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. race — the arms race
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. tube — a container
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. dip — to sink
  13. court — of law
  14. cold — not warm
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. race — a contest
  17. court — of a king
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pit — in a race
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. race — humankind
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. pit — a hole
  24. tube — in a tire

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