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

Word bank: race · tear · last · capital · row · hand

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. last — finally
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. row — to paddle
  6. hand — help
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. race — humankind
  10. capital — a city
  11. tear — from crying
  12. last — final
  13. capital — money
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — a contest
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. last — to go on
  18. hand — in cards

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