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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a ring
  3. key — in music
  4. key — for a lock
  5. cold — not warm
  6. vault — a safe
  7. key — the most important part
  8. press — newspapers
  9. kid — to tease
  10. march — music
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. bass — low music
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. kid — child
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. cold — an illness
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. march — the month
  19. bass — the fish
  20. press — to push
  21. press — a publisher
  22. march — the month
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. band — a rubber band

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