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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: race · foot · kick · game · saw · cold · clip · ball

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. cold — not warm
  3. saw — the tool
  4. game — wild animals
  5. clip — a video
  6. race — humankind
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. race — the arms race
  11. cold — an illness
  12. ball — a great time
  13. game — a match
  14. kick — in football
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. clip — for paper
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. saw — the tool
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. foot — a measure
  22. clip — to cut
  23. ball — a dance
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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