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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. band — a ring
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wind — moving air
  6. mark — a grade
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. club — for golf
  9. club — for dancing
  10. row — to paddle
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. key — for a lock
  13. mark — a trace
  14. ball — a dance
  15. key — the most important part
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. wind — moving air
  18. key — in music
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. band — a music group
  21. cold — an illness
  22. row — a line
  23. club — a group
  24. ball — a great time

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