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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fall — the season
  4. staff — a stick
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. branch — a division
  7. staff — employees
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. wound — an injury
  11. fall — to drop
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. toast — bread
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. band — a ring
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. fall — to drop
  19. staff — employees
  20. saw — the tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. saw — the tool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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