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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. row — a line
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. dip — to sink
  7. chair — a leader
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. stand — to bear
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. row — to paddle
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. cold — not warm
  22. band — a ring
  23. wound — an injury
  24. band — a music group

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