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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: land · bowl · game · race · tube · tear · pitch · bay

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. game — wild animals
  3. tear — to rip
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. land — a country
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. game — a match
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. pitch — completely
  11. race — a contest
  12. race — the arms race
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. race — humankind
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. land — to come down
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tube — the underground
  24. tube — a container

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