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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · branch · can · shower · hide · march · mine · band

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. can — to be able to
  9. branch — a division
  10. cold — an illness
  11. march — the month
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. shower — to wash
  14. can — a tin
  15. band — a ring
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. band — a music group
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. can — a tin
  20. march — music
  21. shower — rain
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — the month

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