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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 120 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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. drill — the tool
  5. drill — army training
  6. band — a ring
  7. stem — to come from
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. game — a match
  11. tear — to rip
  12. drill — a practice
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. band — a music group
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. game — wild animals
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. rush — a thrill

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