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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. band — a ring
  4. court — of law
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bark — to shout
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. bat — the animal
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. last — to go on
  11. vault — a safe
  12. court — of a king
  13. wound — an injury
  14. last — final
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. last — finally
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. band — a music group
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. court — for sport
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wake — a trail

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