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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. tear — from crying
  3. hand — in cards
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — to tease
  8. spell — letters
  9. band — a music group
  10. stock — shares
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. band — a ring
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. hand — help
  15. spell — a short time
  16. wind — moving air
  17. spell — magic
  18. bark — to shout
  19. wind — moving air
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. tear — from crying
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tear — to rip
  24. stock — goods

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