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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. rash — hasty
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. spring — of water
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. track — a path
  7. spring — the season
  8. branch — a division
  9. track — a song
  10. cell — in biology
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. track — to keep track
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cell — a phone
  19. rash — a series
  20. cold — not warm
  21. band — a music group
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. spring — a coil
  24. branch — of a tree

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