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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. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. stock — shares
  3. pitch — completely
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. staff — employees
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. tear — to rip
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. tear — from crying
  11. band — a ring
  12. stock — goods
  13. cold — an illness
  14. present — the time now
  15. tear — from crying
  16. present — a gift
  17. staff — employees
  18. present — there
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. band — a music group
  23. staff — a stick
  24. cold — not warm

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