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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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Word bank
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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: charge · race · ground · hand · cold · jam · bat · mine

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. race — a contest
  3. cold — not warm
  4. charge — electricity
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. charge — in control
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. race — humankind
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. ground — crushed
  11. race — the arms race
  12. charge — a price
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. ground — a position
  16. cold — an illness
  17. hand — help
  18. ground — the earth
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. hand — in cards
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. bat — the animal
  24. mine — for digging

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