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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. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. rule — a law
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bound — tied together
  5. court — for sport
  6. band — a ring
  7. row — a line
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. bank — of a river
  11. band — a music group
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. rule — government
  14. bank — for money
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — of a king
  17. row — to paddle
  18. last — final
  19. bound — certain
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. court — of law
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. bound — obliged
  24. last — finally

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