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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  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. tear — to rip
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. chair — a leader
  7. rash — a series
  8. band — a ring
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — not warm
  13. branch — a division
  14. wound — an injury
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. rash — hasty
  17. cold — an illness
  18. band — a music group
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. wax — to grow
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. wound — an injury
  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