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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: face · wound · lean · march · clip · race · track · pop

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. track — to keep track
  3. track — a song
  4. clip — for paper
  5. pop — soda
  6. march — the month
  7. march — the month
  8. march — music
  9. pop — to visit
  10. wound — an injury
  11. pop — music
  12. clip — a video
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — humankind
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. face — part of the head
  17. lean — to bend
  18. wound — an injury
  19. clip — to cut
  20. track — a path
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. face — to point toward
  23. face — to confront
  24. lean — thin

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