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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: plane · content · bay · cold · wind · race · pop · ground

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. bay — to keep at bay
  5. pop — soda
  6. race — a contest
  7. ground — a position
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. pop — music
  10. content — the amount
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. race — the arms race
  13. plane — a tool
  14. content — happy
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wind — moving air
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — crushed
  19. pop — to visit
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. cold — an illness
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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