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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: fall · drill · date · cell · vault · wake · mine · race

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. wake — a trail
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. fall — to drop
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. vault — a safe
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mine — for digging
  10. fall — the season
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. cell — a phone
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. race — the arms race
  16. drill — army training
  17. drill — the tool
  18. date — the fruit
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. cell — in biology
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. drill — a practice
  23. race — a contest
  24. cell — in a prison

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