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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bound — certain
  4. fall — to drop
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. fall — the season
  7. race — humankind
  8. band — a music group
  9. land — ground
  10. bat — the animal
  11. land — to come down
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. race — a contest
  14. land — a country
  15. spring — a coil
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. band — a ring
  18. race — the arms race
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. kid — child
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bound — tied together
  24. fall — to drop

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