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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 120 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: chest · march · saw · bat · wound · sharp · race · track

  1. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. march — the month
  4. chest — a box
  5. race — the arms race
  6. chest — of your body
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. race — a contest
  10. race — humankind
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. saw — the tool
  16. track — to keep track
  17. sharp — clever
  18. track — a path
  19. march — music
  20. wound — an injury
  21. track — a song
  22. march — the month
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. wound — an injury

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