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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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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: wind · band · rest · spring · bark · wake · board · hand

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. band — a ring
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. spring — a coil
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. rest — what's left
  8. spring — of water
  9. wake — a trail
  10. bark — to shout
  11. rest — what's left
  12. wind — moving air
  13. hand — in cards
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — help
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. band — a music group
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. spring — the season
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. board — a committee
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. board — to get on

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