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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: straw · race · drill · track · field · game · tube · fall

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. drill — the tool
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. race — a contest
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. drill — a practice
  7. game — a match
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. tube — the underground
  10. track — a path
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. track — a song
  13. race — humankind
  14. tube — a container
  15. field — for sport
  16. track — to keep track
  17. game — wild animals
  18. race — the arms race
  19. field — farmland
  20. fall — to drop
  21. drill — army training
  22. fall — the season
  23. field — a subject
  24. straw — dry grass

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