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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. lean — thin
  3. rule — government
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. rule — a law
  7. file — a line of people
  8. scale — in music
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. scale — size or range
  11. band — a music group
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. file — a tool
  14. band — a ring
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a document
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. lean — to bend
  24. ball — a round shape

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