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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: straw · race · cold · mate · bat · kid · fan · lean

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mate — a friend
  3. race — the arms race
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. race — humankind
  7. bat — the animal
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. mate — to breed
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. mate — a partner
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. lean — thin
  15. race — a contest
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. kid — to tease
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. lean — to bend
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. kid — child

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