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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: pound · race · field · fan · press · cold · fall · tear

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. pound — a weight
  5. tear — to rip
  6. fall — to drop
  7. race — a contest
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. field — a subject
  10. fall — to drop
  11. tear — from crying
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. press — a publisher
  14. fall — the season
  15. race — the arms race
  16. press — newspapers
  17. cold — not warm
  18. press — to push
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. field — for sport
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. cold — an illness
  23. tear — from crying
  24. field — farmland

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