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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. club — for dancing
  3. spell — a short time
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. ground — a position
  6. band — a music group
  7. bass — low music
  8. ground — crushed
  9. cold — an illness
  10. ground — the earth
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. band — a ring
  14. spell — magic
  15. chest — of your body
  16. spell — letters
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. bass — the fish
  19. cold — not warm
  20. chest — a box
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. club — a group
  23. club — for golf
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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