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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: dip · mine · drill · race · snap · band · tube · spell

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. band — a music group
  3. race — humankind
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. band — a ring
  6. mine — for digging
  7. tube — the underground
  8. race — a contest
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. spell — letters
  12. tube — a container
  13. drill — army training
  14. dip — to sink
  15. spell — magic
  16. spell — a short time
  17. drill — the tool
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. drill — a practice
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. snap — to click
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. race — the arms race

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