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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. club — for golf
  3. band — a ring
  4. clip — to cut
  5. band — a music group
  6. bound — obliged
  7. land — ground
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. squash — to crush
  11. club — a group
  12. clip — a video
  13. bound — certain
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. cap — of ice
  16. land — a country
  17. bound — tied together
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cap — a hat
  20. squash — the sport
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. clip — for paper
  23. club — for dancing
  24. land — to come down

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