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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. pop — to visit
  5. pop — soda
  6. cap — of ice
  7. last — finally
  8. last — final
  9. squash — the sport
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. cold — not warm
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cap — a hat
  15. bore — to tire
  16. pop — music
  17. squash — to crush
  18. cold — an illness
  19. last — to go on
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. bore — to drill
  22. ball — a dance
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. cap — a lid

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