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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. spell — letters
  4. rule — a law
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. current — of water
  7. last — to go on
  8. spell — magic
  9. capital — money
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. mug — to rob
  13. band — a music group
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — government
  17. current — electric
  18. last — final
  19. spell — a short time
  20. last — finally
  21. current — happening now
  22. mug — a face
  23. capital — a city
  24. mug — a cup

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