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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: tear · wound · mine · swing · tube · bat · race · wake

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. mine — for digging
  3. tube — a container
  4. wake — a trail
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. swing — to play on
  7. race — the arms race
  8. swing — music
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — a contest
  11. bat — the animal
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tube — the underground
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. tear — to rip
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. swing — in golf
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. tear — from crying
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. wake — before a funeral

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