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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 · kid · tear · fall · key · ground · wound

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. wound — an injury
  3. ground — crushed
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. tear — from crying
  6. fall — the season
  7. key — in music
  8. fall — to drop
  9. race — humankind
  10. key — the most important part
  11. race — a contest
  12. tear — to rip
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. wound — an injury
  16. ground — the earth
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. race — the arms race
  19. chair — a leader
  20. tear — from crying
  21. fall — to drop
  22. key — for a lock
  23. ground — a position
  24. kid — child

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