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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: land · rush · court · cold · spell · race · wake · key

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. land — a country
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. race — the arms race
  5. court — for sport
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. land — ground
  8. key — for a lock
  9. court — of a king
  10. spell — letters
  11. wake — a trail
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. cold — an illness
  14. race — humankind
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. court — of law
  18. land — to come down
  19. key — the most important part
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. race — a contest
  22. key — in music
  23. spell — a short time
  24. rush — hurry

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