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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. cell — in biology
  7. kid — to tease
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. pitch — completely
  12. row — to paddle
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. wake — a trail
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. kid — child
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — a line
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. branch — a division
  24. band — a music 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