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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: cap · game · last · content · present · race · drill · bat

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. last — final
  3. race — a contest
  4. last — finally
  5. cap — of ice
  6. game — a match
  7. present — there
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. content — the amount
  10. drill — army training
  11. cap — a hat
  12. bat — the animal
  13. present — the time now
  14. race — the arms race
  15. cap — a lid
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. last — to go on
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. content — happy
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — a practice
  23. game — wild animals
  24. present — a gift

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