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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. clip — for paper
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wind — moving air
  5. clip — a video
  6. game — a match
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. clip — to cut
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. chair — a leader
  12. wind — moving air
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bound — certain
  15. bound — obliged
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bound — tied together
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. band — a ring
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tube — a container
  24. chair — a professorship

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