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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 116 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: net · file · bear · ball · race · cold · rest · pit

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. file — a document
  3. rest — what's left
  4. rest — a break
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. bear — the animal
  8. pit — in a race
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. ball — a great time
  11. net — after costs
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. ball — a dance
  14. bear — the animal
  15. race — humankind
  16. pit — a hole
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. rest — what's left
  19. file — a line of people
  20. cold — not warm
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — the arms race
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — in sport

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