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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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. pitcher — a jug
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tear — from crying
  6. cap — a hat
  7. capital — money
  8. rash — hasty
  9. rash — a series
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. game — a match
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. band — a ring
  17. cap — a lid
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. bark — to shout
  20. cap — of ice
  21. band — a music group
  22. game — wild animals
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. capital — a city

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