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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 124 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. cap — of ice
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cap — a hat
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. band — a music group
  10. band — a ring
  11. cap — a lid
  12. file — a document
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — in sport
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. file — a line of people
  18. stem — to come from
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. mine — for digging
  21. net — for catching
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. file — a tool

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