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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 116 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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  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. band — a ring
  3. prune — to trim
  4. row — to paddle
  5. row — a line
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. pass — a permit
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. band — a music group
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mine — for digging
  15. prune — to trim
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. clip — a video
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pit — in a race
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. pit — a hole
  23. mine — an explosive
  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