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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: row · stand · shower · race · file · clip · kid · capital

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. capital — money
  3. kid — child
  4. file — a tool
  5. stand — to bear
  6. kid — to tease
  7. race — a contest
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. file — a document
  11. clip — a video
  12. row — to paddle
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. shower — rain
  15. race — humankind
  16. row — a line
  17. clip — to cut
  18. shower — to wash
  19. clip — for paper
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. file — a line of people
  24. capital — a city

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