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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: mine · arm · tear · hand · bay · race · pit · clip

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — for digging
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. tear — from crying
  5. race — a contest
  6. tear — to rip
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. clip — to cut
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. clip — a video
  11. tear — from crying
  12. race — the arms race
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. bay — a part of the sea
  15. hand — help
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. pit — in a race
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. hand — in cards
  22. clip — for paper
  23. pit — a hole
  24. race — humankind

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