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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. cold — not warm
  3. prune — to trim
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. rush — hurry
  6. march — the month
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. march — music
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. saw — the tool
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. saw — the tool
  16. band — a music group
  17. march — the month
  18. prune — to trim
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. cold — an illness
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. coach — a trainer

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