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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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. race — a contest
  4. cold — not warm
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. ball — a dance
  7. band — a ring
  8. shower — to wash
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. hand — help
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — the arms race
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. hand — in cards
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. cold — an illness
  21. fine — high quality
  22. fine — all right
  23. wax — to grow
  24. shower — rain

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