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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: bear · race · drill · row · cold · capital · rash · ground

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. cold — not warm
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. cold — an illness
  5. drill — army training
  6. row — to paddle
  7. bear — the animal
  8. ground — the earth
  9. capital — a city
  10. race — humankind
  11. drill — a practice
  12. ground — a position
  13. race — the arms race
  14. drill — the tool
  15. race — a contest
  16. rash — a series
  17. capital — money
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. ground — crushed
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. row — a line
  24. rash — hasty

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