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

Word bank: drill · court · content · race · wind · chip

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. race — a contest
  3. drill — a practice
  4. wind — moving air
  5. content — happy
  6. content — the amount
  7. court — for sport
  8. chip — for betting
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. court — of a king
  11. chip — to eat
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. court — of law
  14. drill — army training
  15. race — the arms race
  16. drill — the tool
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. wind — moving air

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