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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: mark · band · chest · bay · cold · bowl · pitcher · rule

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bay — to keep at bay
  3. mark — a grade
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. band — a music group
  7. band — a ring
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. rule — a law
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rule — government
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mark — a trace
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. bay — a part of the sea
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. chest — of your body
  24. band — a rubber band

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