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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: race · can · wound · drill · clip · spring · land · bowl

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. can — to be able to
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. race — a contest
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. drill — a practice
  9. land — to come down
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. spring — a coil
  12. land — ground
  13. land — a country
  14. race — the arms race
  15. drill — the tool
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. clip — a video
  18. can — a tin
  19. race — humankind
  20. wound — an injury
  21. drill — army training
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  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