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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. hand — help
  3. band — a music group
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. pass — a permit
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. game — wild animals
  8. cold — not warm
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. cold — an illness
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. game — a match
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. squash — the sport
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rush — hurry
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. band — a rubber band

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