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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 · plane · bowl · file · bass · tear · lean

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. file — a tool
  6. bass — the fish
  7. land — to come down
  8. file — a line of people
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. race — a contest
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. lean — to bend
  14. plane — a tool
  15. land — ground
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. bass — low music
  20. file — a document
  21. race — humankind
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. race — the arms race
  24. land — a country

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