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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. wound — an injury
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bulb — for light
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. fork — in a road
  7. band — a ring
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. race — a contest
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. race — the arms race
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. cold — not warm
  15. wake — a trail
  16. bulb — for light
  17. scale — in music
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. cold — an illness
  22. race — humankind
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. scale — size or range

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