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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 120 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
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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: rush · bowl · swing · cold · clip · ground · rule · band

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. rule — government
  5. band — a ring
  6. ground — a position
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. swing — in golf
  9. ground — crushed
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ground — the earth
  13. band — a music group
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. swing — to play on
  16. clip — for paper
  17. rule — a law
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. swing — music
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. cold — the Cold War

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