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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: march · land · last · arm · file · race

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. last — final
  3. march — the month
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. file — a line of people
  6. march — the month
  7. file — a tool
  8. race — a contest
  9. last — finally
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. race — humankind
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. last — to go on
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. march — music
  17. race — the arms race
  18. file — a document

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