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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — to rip
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a ring
  7. face — to point toward
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. cold — not warm
  11. tear — from crying
  12. face — part of the head
  13. snap — to click
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. hand — help
  17. face — to confront
  18. hand — in cards
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. cold — an illness
  24. calf — of the leg

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