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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 120 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 still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. last — to go on
  4. root — of a word
  5. band — a music group
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. object — to protest
  9. sharp — clever
  10. file — a tool
  11. root — of a plant
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. kid — child
  14. race — a contest
  15. race — humankind
  16. last — finally
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. race — the arms race
  19. object — an aim
  20. file — a document
  21. last — final
  22. file — a line of people
  23. object — a thing
  24. root — the cause

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