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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: land · race · root · wound · scale · pop · straw · wind

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. race — humankind
  3. pop — music
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. race — the arms race
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. land — ground
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. wind — moving air
  11. scale — size or range
  12. root — of a plant
  13. land — to come down
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. race — a contest
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. root — of a word
  19. land — a country
  20. root — the cause
  21. scale — in music
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pop — to visit
  24. pop — soda

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