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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: tube · race · march · cold · field · wound · can · bank

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. bank — of a river
  3. wound — an injury
  4. race — humankind
  5. field — a subject
  6. march — the month
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. tube — the underground
  9. field — for sport
  10. can — a tin
  11. race — the arms race
  12. march — the month
  13. can — to be able to
  14. cold — not warm
  15. march — music
  16. wound — an injury
  17. race — a contest
  18. bank — for money
  19. cold — an illness
  20. field — farmland
  21. tube — a container
  22. can — a tin
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. cold — the Cold War

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