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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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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: firm · straw · cold · ground · bore · race · land · bowl

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. firm — decided
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. ground — a position
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. firm — steady
  9. cold — an illness
  10. land — to come down
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. ground — crushed
  14. ground — the earth
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. firm — a company
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. race — humankind
  19. bore — to tire
  20. land — a country
  21. race — a contest
  22. race — the arms race
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bore — to drill

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