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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cue — a signal
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. rest — a break
  5. spring — a coil
  6. band — a music group
  7. tear — to rip
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. spring — of water
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cue — a hint
  12. mate — to breed
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cue — for pool
  16. tear — from crying
  17. spring — the season
  18. rest — what's left
  19. mate — a partner
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to click
  22. rest — what's left
  23. mate — a friend
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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