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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: fall · race · degree · file · march · arm · pound · bear

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. race — humankind
  3. fall — to drop
  4. degree — temperature
  5. march — the month
  6. degree — from a university
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. pound — to hit hard
  9. bear — the animal
  10. file — a tool
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fall — the season
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. degree — an amount
  15. pound — a weight
  16. file — a line of people
  17. race — a contest
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. march — the month
  20. file — a document
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. bear — the animal
  23. march — music
  24. bear — to put up with

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