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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 120 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: pitcher · drill · press · band · current · cold · kick · race

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. band — a music group
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. cold — an illness
  6. current — of water
  7. press — to push
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. drill — a practice
  10. drill — army training
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. drill — the tool
  13. race — humankind
  14. current — happening now
  15. kick — in football
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. race — the arms race
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. press — newspapers
  22. press — a publisher
  23. current — electric
  24. band — a ring

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