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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: row · rush · wound · deal · race · content · bass · field

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. field — farmland
  4. wound — an injury
  5. race — humankind
  6. row — a line
  7. wound — an injury
  8. content — happy
  9. bass — the fish
  10. deal — to handle
  11. content — the amount
  12. field — for sport
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. race — the arms race
  16. field — a subject
  17. bass — low music
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. deal — an agreement
  20. race — a contest
  21. rush — hurry
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. row — to paddle

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