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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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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: file · perch · plane · key · tube · season · race · cold

  1. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. key — the most important part
  3. race — humankind
  4. tube — the underground
  5. season — of the year
  6. tube — a container
  7. cold — not warm
  8. race — a contest
  9. plane — a tool
  10. key — for a lock
  11. season — in sport
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a tool
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. perch — the fish
  18. key — in music
  19. cold — an illness
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. race — the arms race
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. plane — in geometry

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