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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: wound · cold · bat · bound · race · rush · bowl · tear

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. tear — to rip
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bound — obliged
  5. race — the arms race
  6. race — humankind
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bound — tied together
  9. bound — certain
  10. rush — hurry
  11. wound — an injury
  12. race — a contest
  13. bowl — to roll
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bowl — a dish

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