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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: wind · pitcher · cold · wake · nail · stem · race · deal

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wind — moving air
  3. race — humankind
  4. race — the arms race
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stem — to come from
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. deal — to handle
  19. wind — moving air
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. race — a contest
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. wake — a trail

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