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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. row — a line
  3. ground — a position
  4. clip — for paper
  5. hand — in cards
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. drill — a practice
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. ground — crushed
  10. clip — a video
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. pass — a permit
  14. ground — the earth
  15. band — a music group
  16. drill — army training
  17. sharp — clever
  18. drill — the tool
  19. row — to paddle
  20. clip — to cut
  21. band — a ring
  22. hand — help
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. pass — to spend time

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