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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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Word bank
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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: wind · cell · march · bound · land · race

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bound — obliged
  3. land — ground
  4. march — the month
  5. race — a contest
  6. land — a country
  7. race — humankind
  8. march — music
  9. wind — moving air
  10. race — the arms race
  11. bound — certain
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bound — tied together
  14. march — the month
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. land — to come down
  18. cell — a phone

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