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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 116 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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. band — a music group
  3. staff — employees
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. cold — an illness
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. craft — boats
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. saw — the tool
  13. saw — the tool
  14. staff — a stick
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. craft — a skill
  18. band — a ring
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. bat — the animal
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. tube — a container
  23. staff — employees
  24. cold — not warm

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