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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: chest · mark · row · race · pop · cell · capital · swing

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. cell — a phone
  4. pop — music
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. pop — to visit
  7. pop — soda
  8. cell — in biology
  9. capital — money
  10. race — humankind
  11. chest — a box
  12. swing — in golf
  13. mark — a trace
  14. capital — a city
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. swing — to play on
  18. row — to paddle
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. row — a line
  22. swing — music
  23. race — a contest
  24. mark — a grade

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