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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: cold · drill · land · scale · cell · race

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. race — humankind
  3. scale — in music
  4. cell — a phone
  5. land — a country
  6. drill — the tool
  7. drill — a practice
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. scale — size or range
  11. drill — army training
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. race — a contest
  15. land — ground
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. race — the arms race
  18. cell — in biology

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