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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. bound — obliged
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. game — wild animals
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a music group
  7. race — humankind
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. land — to come down
  10. band — a ring
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. bound — tied together
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. game — a match
  17. land — a country
  18. bound — certain
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — for paper
  21. land — ground
  22. clip — a video
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. race — the arms race

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