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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 120 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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  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. band — a rubber band
  2. cold — an illness
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a leader
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. net — in sport
  13. band — a music group
  14. net — after costs
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. chip — to eat
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. net — for catching
  19. march — music
  20. march — the month
  21. march — the month
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. chip — for betting
  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