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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 second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. capital — money
  3. object — an aim
  4. band — a ring
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. shower — rain
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mine — for digging
  10. kid — child
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. fall — to drop
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. kid — to tease
  15. stem — to come from
  16. shower — to wash
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. fall — the season
  20. capital — a city
  21. object — to protest
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. object — a thing

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