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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. band — a ring
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — of water
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. cue — a hint
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cue — a signal
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — child
  12. cap — of ice
  13. branch — a division
  14. cap — a lid
  15. hand — help
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. cue — for pool
  18. band — a music group
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. cap — a hat
  21. spring — the season
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bat — the animal
  24. hand — part of the body

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