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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 120 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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. stem — to come from
  3. spring — a coil
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. race — the arms race
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. spring — the season
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. capital — money
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. perch — the fish
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. spring — of water
  14. race — a contest
  15. race — humankind
  16. capital — a city
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. band — a ring
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. band — a music group

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