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

  1. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  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. nail — for a hammer
  2. staff — employees
  3. season — in sport
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. content — happy
  7. band — a music group
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. cold — an illness
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. staff — employees
  12. band — a ring
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — the amount
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. season — of the year
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. staff — a stick
  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