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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. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. chip — for betting
  3. mine — for digging
  4. chip — to eat
  5. ground — the earth
  6. cold — not warm
  7. spring — of water
  8. last — finally
  9. spring — a coil
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. last — to go on
  14. last — final
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. band — a ring
  17. ground — crushed
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. rule — government
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spring — the season
  22. band — a music group
  23. ground — a position
  24. rule — a law

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