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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 works in a ________________ mill.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cap — a hat
  4. chest — a box
  5. wound — an injury
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bound — tied together
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. band — a music group
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. spring — of water
  12. cap — a lid
  13. band — a ring
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bound — obliged
  18. cap — of ice
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cold — not warm
  21. saw — the tool
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bound — certain
  24. spring — the season

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