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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: bass · tear · cell · land · chest · rash · tube · race

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. race — humankind
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tube — the underground
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. rash — a series
  7. land — to come down
  8. cell — in biology
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. land — ground
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. land — a country
  13. chest — of your body
  14. race — a contest
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. bass — low music
  17. bass — the fish
  18. chest — of your body
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rash — hasty
  21. cell — a phone
  22. race — the arms race
  23. tube — a container
  24. chest — a box

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