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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. land — a country
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. band — a music group
  7. dip — to sink
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. land — ground
  11. band — a ring
  12. stand — to bear
  13. cold — not warm
  14. last — finally
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — farmland
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. last — final
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. field — a subject
  21. cold — an illness
  22. branch — a division
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. dip — to dunk

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