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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: nail · mine · tear · chest · tube · wind · race · bat

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. race — the arms race
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. mine — for digging
  5. race — humankind
  6. bat — the animal
  7. tear — from crying
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. chest — of your body
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. tube — a container
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. nail — on a finger
  14. tear — from crying
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. tube — the underground
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. tear — to rip

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