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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. tear — to rip
  3. band — a ring
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — letters
  6. charge — a price
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. cold — not warm
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. cap — of ice
  13. charge — in control
  14. date — the fruit
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. cap — a hat
  17. cap — a lid
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. band — a music group
  20. spell — magic
  21. cold — an illness
  22. snap — to click
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. charge — electricity

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