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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: wind · bore · race · arm · cold · band · wound · rash

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wound — an injury
  3. race — humankind
  4. band — a music group
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. rash — hasty
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — an illness
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. rash — a series
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. race — the arms race
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bore — to drill
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. band — a ring
  24. bore — to tire

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