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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's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a ring
  3. snap — to click
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. cap — of ice
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. cap — a hat
  10. rest — what's left
  11. kick — in football
  12. scale — size or range
  13. cap — a lid
  14. scale — in music
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. rest — what's left
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. game — wild animals
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. pound — a weight
  23. rest — a break
  24. game — a match

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