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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: arm · band · rest · cell · bound · bat · degree · date

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. bat — the animal
  4. band — a ring
  5. cell — a phone
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cell — in biology
  9. degree — an amount
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. degree — temperature
  13. bound — obliged
  14. bound — certain
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. rest — what's left
  17. bound — tied together
  18. rest — what's left
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. degree — from a university
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. date — the fruit
  23. rest — a break
  24. bat — in an idiom

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