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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: arm · pop · last · wake · drill · mine · scale · race

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. mine — for digging
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. drill — army training
  5. pop — soda
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — humankind
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. race — the arms race
  11. pop — music
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. wake — a trail
  15. drill — a practice
  16. last — to go on
  17. last — final
  18. scale — size or range
  19. pop — to visit
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. drill — the tool
  23. last — finally
  24. scale — in music

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