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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. pop — music
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. row — to paddle
  5. bank — for money
  6. tube — a container
  7. stock — goods
  8. pop — to visit
  9. row — a line
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. stem — to come from
  12. chest — of your body
  13. pop — soda
  14. tube — the underground
  15. chest — of your body
  16. band — a music group
  17. bank — of a river
  18. chest — a box
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. stock — shares
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. bank — for money

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