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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: game · wave · cold · straw · pitch · land · toast · race

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. land — ground
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. land — to come down
  6. game — a match
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — the arms race
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. toast — bread
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. land — a country
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. race — a contest
  24. pitch — completely

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