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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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 rubber band
  3. tear — from crying
  4. saw — the tool
  5. hand — in cards
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. band — a ring
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. tear — from crying
  10. saw — the tool
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. hand — help
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. tear — to rip
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. squash — to crush
  18. squash — the sport
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — a subject
  21. field — farmland
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. cold — not warm

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