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

Word bank: tear · bay · file · tube · kid · band · deal · arm

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. 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. bay — a horse colour
  2. band — a ring
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. kid — to tease
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. tear — from crying
  7. file — a tool
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. tube — the underground
  10. file — a line of people
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. tear — from crying
  16. file — a document
  17. kid — child
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tube — a container
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. deal — to handle
  24. 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