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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: wound · bass · race · hand · stand · chest · root · last

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wound — an injury
  3. last — final
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. race — a contest
  6. root — of a plant
  7. chest — of your body
  8. race — the arms race
  9. root — the cause
  10. race — humankind
  11. last — to go on
  12. last — finally
  13. stand — to bear
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. root — of a word
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bass — low music
  21. bass — the fish
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wound — an injury
  24. hand — part of the body

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