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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. current — electric
  5. board — a committee
  6. march — the month
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. march — music
  9. squash — the sport
  10. march — the month
  11. board — to get on
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bass — low music
  14. bass — the fish
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. current — happening now
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. current — of water
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. squash — to crush

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