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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 is an ace ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. band — a ring
  6. clip — a video
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. chest — a box
  9. cold — an illness
  10. band — a music group
  11. can — a tin
  12. clip — to cut
  13. root — the cause
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. can — to be able to
  16. root — of a plant
  17. can — a tin
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. root — of a word
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. chest — of your body
  24. clip — for paper

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