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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: cold · race · bore · key · swing · bat · last · chip

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bore — to drill
  3. race — a contest
  4. last — to go on
  5. swing — music
  6. race — humankind
  7. chip — for betting
  8. bat — the animal
  9. last — final
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. key — for a lock
  14. key — the most important part
  15. swing — to play on
  16. chip — to eat
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. key — in music
  20. bore — to tire
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. race — the arms race

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