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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 120 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: rush · cold · tear · race · snap · drill · bound · scale

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. drill — army training
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. scale — in music
  8. bound — certain
  9. drill — the tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. race — a contest
  12. tear — to rip
  13. bound — obliged
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. tear — from crying
  16. race — humankind
  17. drill — a practice
  18. tear — from crying
  19. snap — to click
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. bound — tied together
  22. race — the arms race
  23. scale — size or range
  24. rush — hurry

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