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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: arm · roll · track · pitch · race · land · cold · wound

  1. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — the arms race
  2. land — ground
  3. race — humankind
  4. wound — an injury
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. track — a song
  7. land — to come down
  8. pitch — completely
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. roll — a list
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. track — a path
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. race — a contest
  16. roll — a cake
  17. track — to keep track
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. cold — not warm
  21. land — a country
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wound — an injury

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