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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: rush · race · bat · bowl · drill · last · bay · chest

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. rush — hurry
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bowl — to roll
  6. last — final
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — finally
  9. drill — a practice
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — a contest
  17. drill — the tool
  18. chest — of your body
  19. chest — a box
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. drill — army training
  22. race — the arms race
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. bowl — a dish

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