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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. march — the month
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. rule — government
  6. last — final
  7. hand — help
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. race — a contest
  13. last — to go on
  14. march — the month
  15. band — a music group
  16. rule — a law
  17. band — a ring
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. last — finally
  20. hand — in cards
  21. race — humankind
  22. march — music
  23. race — the arms race
  24. tear — from crying

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