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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: band · current · ground · bat · race · land · trunk · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. land — a country
  5. band — a ring
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. current — happening now
  8. race — the arms race
  9. race — humankind
  10. current — of water
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. tear — from crying
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. current — electric
  17. race — a contest
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. bat — the animal
  20. ground — crushed
  21. tear — to rip
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ground — a position
  24. band — a music group

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