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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 116 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. drill — the tool
  4. race — humankind
  5. drill — army training
  6. bass — the fish
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. land — to come down
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. race — the arms race
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — in cards
  14. race — a contest
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. drill — a practice
  17. bass — low music
  18. land — ground
  19. last — finally
  20. last — final
  21. bat — the animal
  22. last — to go on
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bass — the instrument

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