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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: rash · charge · hand · cold · branch · kid · nail · band

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. hand — help
  3. kid — child
  4. band — a music group
  5. cold — an illness
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. charge — electricity
  8. hand — in cards
  9. charge — a price
  10. cold — not warm
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. branch — a division
  17. band — a ring
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. kid — to tease
  21. rash — a series
  22. charge — in control
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. rash — hasty

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