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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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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: pitcher · clip · chest · game · suit · cold · race · ground

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. When will it ________________ you to start?
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — for paper
  3. ground — the earth
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. ground — a position
  6. chest — of your body
  7. game — wild animals
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — humankind
  10. chest — a box
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — a video
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. game — a match
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. suit — clothes
  17. suit — to fit
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. cold — an illness
  20. suit — in cards
  21. race — the arms race
  22. chest — of your body
  23. ground — crushed
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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