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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 124 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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. club — a group
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. spell — a short time
  6. saw — the tool
  7. club — for dancing
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. club — for golf
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. band — a music group
  14. hand — in cards
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cold — not warm
  17. snap — to click
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spell — letters
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. spell — magic
  23. hand — help
  24. cabinet — ministers

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