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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 116 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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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 ring
  2. lean — thin
  3. clip — for paper
  4. rest — a break
  5. rest — what's left
  6. race — a contest
  7. race — the arms race
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. clip — to cut
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. tear — to rip
  13. tear — from crying
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. stand — to bear
  17. lean — to bend
  18. clip — a video
  19. tear — from crying
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. rest — what's left
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. race — humankind
  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