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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: pound · firm · chest · wake · race · bat

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. race — humankind
  3. chest — of your body
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. firm — steady
  6. race — the arms race
  7. firm — decided
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. firm — a company
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. chest — a box
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. wake — a trail
  16. pound — a weight
  17. race — a contest
  18. pound — for dogs

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