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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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. file — a tool
  3. band — a ring
  4. band — a music group
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. pop — soda
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. tear — from crying
  9. pop — music
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. file — a document
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. cold — not warm
  14. tear — to rip
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. pop — to visit
  18. rest — a break
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rest — what's left
  21. tear — from crying
  22. rest — what's left
  23. cold — an illness
  24. file — a line of people

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