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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 116 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 · court · wind · hide · last · charge

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. last — final
  3. court — of a king
  4. charge — a price
  5. last — to go on
  6. court — for sport
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. court — of law
  11. charge — in control
  12. race — a contest
  13. charge — electricity
  14. wind — moving air
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. wind — moving air
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. cold — an illness
  20. race — humankind
  21. last — finally
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. race — the arms race
  24. hide — to keep secret

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