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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: file · kick · hand · mine · wake · temple · race · fall

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. race — humankind
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. mine — for digging
  6. fall — to drop
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. race — a contest
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. hand — in cards
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. fall — the season
  13. kick — in football
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. file — a line of people
  17. fall — to drop
  18. file — a document
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. file — a tool
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. race — the arms race
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. wake — a trail

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