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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. band — a ring
  3. band — a music group
  4. plane — a tool
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. cell — a phone
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. can — a tin
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. bat — the animal
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. can — to be able to
  20. can — a tin
  21. cell — in biology
  22. chair — a leader
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. clip — for paper

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