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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: tear · band · chest · race · plane · ground

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. chest — of your body
  4. tear — from crying
  5. band — a music group
  6. chest — a box
  7. tear — to rip
  8. ground — the earth
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. ground — crushed
  11. tear — from crying
  12. race — the arms race
  13. plane — a tool
  14. race — a contest
  15. band — a ring
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. chest — of your body
  18. ground — a position

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