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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. chest — of your body
  5. band — a ring
  6. file — a tool
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. spell — letters
  10. rush — hurry
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. wound — an injury
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. spell — a short time
  16. chest — a box
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. band — a music group
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. file — a document
  22. perch — the fish
  23. file — a line of people
  24. spell — magic

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