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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. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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. ground — a position
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. fall — the season
  6. press — newspapers
  7. fall — to drop
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. cold — an illness
  10. file — a tool
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. file — a document
  13. fall — to drop
  14. cold — not warm
  15. press — a publisher
  16. ground — crushed
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. fine — all right
  19. ground — the earth
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. press — to push
  22. fine — high quality
  23. file — a line of people
  24. trunk — of a tree

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