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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. kid — child
  4. press — to push
  5. craft — a skill
  6. cold — not warm
  7. craft — boats
  8. band — a music group
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. press — newspapers
  16. dip — to sink
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. branch — a division
  20. hand — help
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. cold — an illness
  23. press — a publisher
  24. band — a ring

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