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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: saw · race · march · cold · swing · rest · land · wound

  1. He works in a ________________ mill.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. race — a contest
  3. saw — the tool
  4. wound — an injury
  5. land — a country
  6. rest — a break
  7. race — humankind
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rest — what's left
  11. race — the arms race
  12. march — music
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rest — what's left
  15. swing — in golf
  16. march — the month
  17. land — to come down
  18. wound — an injury
  19. land — ground
  20. march — the month
  21. swing — to play on
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. swing — music
  24. cold — not warm

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