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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. spring — a coil
  3. jam — a tight spot
  4. spring — the season
  5. file — a tool
  6. track — a path
  7. track — a song
  8. spring — of water
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. track — to keep track
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. file — a line of people
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. branch — a division
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — the animal
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. band — a music group
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. file — a document
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. calf — a young animal

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