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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. last — final
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wind — moving air
  6. band — a music group
  7. rush — hurry
  8. pop — soda
  9. drill — a practice
  10. board — a committee
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. drill — the tool
  13. pop — music
  14. drill — army training
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. last — to go on
  18. last — finally
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. pop — to visit
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. band — a ring
  24. board — to get on

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