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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: cell · rule · band · wound · tube · kid · present · cold

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. band — a music group
  5. rule — a law
  6. cell — in biology
  7. band — a ring
  8. present — the time now
  9. kid — child
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. tube — a container
  14. cell — a phone
  15. present — a gift
  16. present — there
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. tube — the underground
  19. cold — an illness
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. cold — not warm

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