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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · race · kid · game · track · net · mine · dip

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  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. race — a contest
  2. dip — to sink
  3. game — a match
  4. game — wild animals
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. kid — to tease
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. track — to keep track
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — the animal
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. track — a song
  15. race — the arms race
  16. net — after costs
  17. mine — for digging
  18. kid — child
  19. net — for catching
  20. race — humankind
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. net — in sport
  23. track — a path
  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