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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: squash · last · bark · fan · cold · band

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. last — finally
  4. band — a ring
  5. last — final
  6. bark — to shout
  7. last — to go on
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. squash — to crush
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. squash — the sport
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. band — a music group

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