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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. date — the fruit
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. perch — the fish
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cell — a phone
  9. spell — a short time
  10. wake — a trail
  11. wind — moving air
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. band — a ring
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. spell — letters
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spell — magic
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. cold — an illness
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. cell — in biology

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