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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 120 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: race · squash · game · cold · clip · temple · band · sharp

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. sharp — clever
  4. clip — a video
  5. race — the arms race
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. race — humankind
  9. squash — the sport
  10. band — a music group
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. game — wild animals
  14. clip — for paper
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. game — a match
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. band — a ring
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. cold — an illness
  22. clip — to cut
  23. race — a contest
  24. band — a rubber band

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