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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. tear — to rip
  5. spell — letters
  6. current — happening now
  7. band — a ring
  8. cold — an illness
  9. tear — from crying
  10. current — electric
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stand — to bear
  15. spell — magic
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. spell — a short time
  19. tear — from crying
  20. field — a subject
  21. field — farmland
  22. field — for sport
  23. current — of water
  24. band — a rubber band

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