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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 put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at 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. net — after costs
  3. cold — an illness
  4. kid — child
  5. root — the cause
  6. band — a ring
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. rock — music
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. root — of a plant
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. cold — not warm
  13. squash — the sport
  14. net — for catching
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rush — hurry
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. root — of a word
  19. net — in sport
  20. kid — to tease
  21. band — a music group
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. rock — a stone
  24. cold — the Cold War

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