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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 · spring · wake · straw · race · fall · pop · pitcher

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. race — humankind
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. pop — music
  5. wound — an injury
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. pop — soda
  12. spring — of water
  13. wake — a trail
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. fall — to drop
  16. race — a contest
  17. fall — the season
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. pop — to visit
  21. spring — the season
  22. spring — a coil
  23. race — the arms race
  24. fall — to drop

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