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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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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: pound · court · race · wake · tube · cold · chip · kid

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. race — humankind
  3. cold — not warm
  4. court — of a king
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. chip — to eat
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. race — the arms race
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. kid — child
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tube — the underground
  17. kid — to tease
  18. court — for sport
  19. pound — a weight
  20. tube — a container
  21. wake — a trail
  22. chip — for betting
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. court — of law

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