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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. race — the arms race
  5. band — a music group
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — for paper
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. mark — a grade
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. band — a ring
  12. bore — to drill
  13. dip — to sink
  14. bore — to tire
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. race — humankind
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. wake — a trail
  21. clip — a video
  22. mark — a trace
  23. clip — to cut
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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