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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. band — a music group
  3. swing — in golf
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. hand — help
  6. bear — the animal
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. band — a ring
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. swing — to play on
  11. file — a line of people
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. file — a tool
  14. rash — a series
  15. cold — not warm
  16. file — a document
  17. rash — hasty
  18. pitch — completely
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. swing — music
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bear — the animal

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