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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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. file — a tool
  3. land — to come down
  4. band — a music group
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. land — a country
  7. capital — a city
  8. board — a committee
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a line of people
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. spell — a short time
  13. dip — to sink
  14. spell — letters
  15. board — to get on
  16. drill — a practice
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. drill — the tool
  22. drill — army training
  23. land — ground
  24. spell — magic

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