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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: land · cap · arm · face · race · tear · kid · file

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. file — a line of people
  4. file — a document
  5. kid — child
  6. race — a contest
  7. tear — from crying
  8. race — humankind
  9. cap — a hat
  10. tear — to rip
  11. cap — of ice
  12. file — a tool
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. land — ground
  15. kid — to tease
  16. land — to come down
  17. face — to confront
  18. race — the arms race
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cap — a lid
  22. face — part of the head
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. face — to point toward

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