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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: rule · lean · mine · cold · pop · race · present · toast

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. pop — to visit
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pop — music
  7. race — humankind
  8. cold — not warm
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. present — a gift
  12. race — the arms race
  13. race — a contest
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. present — there
  16. rule — a law
  17. lean — to bend
  18. pop — soda
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. rule — government
  21. lean — thin
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. present — the time now

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