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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. pop — music
  3. chair — a leader
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. squash — the sport
  7. pop — soda
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. drill — a practice
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. drill — the tool
  15. race — a contest
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. race — the arms race
  18. pop — to visit
  19. squash — to crush
  20. band — a music group
  21. bat — the animal
  22. race — humankind
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. drill — army training

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