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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: band · spell · drill · race · content · game · bark · chest

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. spell — a short time
  3. band — a ring
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. chest — a box
  6. chest — of your body
  7. band — a music group
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. game — a match
  10. drill — army training
  11. spell — magic
  12. spell — letters
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. bark — to shout
  15. content — happy
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. drill — the tool
  18. game — wild animals
  19. chest — of your body
  20. race — the arms race
  21. content — the amount
  22. race — humankind
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. drill — a practice

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