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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. net — for catching
  6. rock — music
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. club — for golf
  9. club — for dancing
  10. net — in sport
  11. rock — a stone
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. band — a music group
  17. branch — a division
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. fork — in a road
  20. net — after costs
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. cold — an illness
  24. club — a group

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