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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. game — a match
  3. band — a music group
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. chair — a leader
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. band — a ring
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. stand — to bear
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. game — wild animals
  15. file — a document
  16. kick — in football
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. file — a line of people
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. prune — to trim
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. file — a tool

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