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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. cold — an illness
  5. deal — to handle
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. bound — tied together
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. land — a country
  10. bound — obliged
  11. bound — certain
  12. cold — not warm
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. land — ground
  16. band — a music group
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. snap — to click
  21. land — to come down
  22. band — a ring
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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