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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: lie · patient · track · club · cold · race · content · straw

  1. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. club — a group
  3. track — a path
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. club — for dancing
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. content — happy
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. cold — an illness
  13. race — the arms race
  14. track — to keep track
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. race — a contest
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. content — the amount
  20. cold — not warm
  21. club — for golf
  22. lie — to recline
  23. race — humankind
  24. content — videos and posts

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