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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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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: rest · bowl · race · file · scale · cold · sharp · tear

  1. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. rest — what's left
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. file — a tool
  6. race — humankind
  7. cold — an illness
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. race — the arms race
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. scale — in music
  12. race — a contest
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. tear — from crying
  16. scale — size or range
  17. rest — a break
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. sharp — clever
  20. rest — what's left
  21. tear — from crying
  22. file — a line of people
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cold — not warm

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