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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. race — a contest
  3. race — humankind
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. fall — to drop
  6. board — to get on
  7. wind — moving air
  8. fall — the season
  9. track — to keep track
  10. field — a subject
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. board — a committee
  14. fall — to drop
  15. track — a song
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wound — an injury
  18. band — a ring
  19. band — a music group
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. race — the arms race
  22. field — farmland
  23. field — for sport
  24. wound — an injury

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