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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: race · ruler · last · wound · file · mine · snap · band

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. last — to go on
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. last — finally
  5. file — a tool
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. race — humankind
  8. wound — an injury
  9. band — a ring
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. file — a document
  13. wound — an injury
  14. last — final
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. race — a contest
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. band — a music group
  20. race — the arms race
  21. file — a line of people
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. snap — to click
  24. mine — belonging to me

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