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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: race · bat · wake · mine · mate · roll · drill · cold

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mine — for digging
  4. drill — the tool
  5. bat — the animal
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. cold — an illness
  8. drill — army training
  9. mate — a partner
  10. drill — a practice
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. cold — not warm
  15. race — a contest
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. race — humankind
  18. wake — a trail
  19. mate — to breed
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. roll — a list
  22. roll — a cake
  23. mate — a friend
  24. race — the arms race

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