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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 116 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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. wound — an injury
  4. march — the month
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bound — certain
  7. lean — thin
  8. dip — to sink
  9. bound — obliged
  10. band — a ring
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — an illness
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. lean — to bend
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bound — tied together
  22. march — music
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. lean — to rest against

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