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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 · race · wave · sharp · squash · band · snap · chest

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. land — to come down
  5. band — a music group
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. snap — to click
  8. land — ground
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. race — a contest
  11. squash — the sport
  12. squash — to crush
  13. sharp — clever
  14. chest — of your body
  15. race — humankind
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. chest — a box
  19. chest — of your body
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. race — the arms race
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. band — a ring
  24. sharp — exactly

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