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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: race · swing · bear · mine · wind · racket · file · bat

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. race — humankind
  5. mine — for digging
  6. file — a tool
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. swing — music
  9. wind — moving air
  10. file — a document
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. swing — to play on
  15. bear — the animal
  16. file — a line of people
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. race — a contest
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bear — the animal
  23. swing — in golf
  24. bear — to put up with

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