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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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 rubber band
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cell — a phone
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. face — to point toward
  7. clip — a video
  8. bank — for money
  9. kid — child
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. bank — for money
  12. face — to confront
  13. band — a ring
  14. bank — of a river
  15. face — part of the head
  16. clip — to cut
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. plane — a tool
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. cell — in biology
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — an injury
  23. kid — to tease
  24. plane — an aircraft

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