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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: band · degree · rush · race · chest · lash · roll · row

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. chest — of your body
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. degree — an amount
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. roll — a cake
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. chest — a box
  10. race — the arms race
  11. degree — temperature
  12. race — a contest
  13. row — to paddle
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. rush — hurry
  16. band — a ring
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. row — a line
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. chest — of your body
  21. degree — from a university
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. race — humankind
  24. roll — a list

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