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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.

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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: net · file · bank · band · cold · tube · chair · bark

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. cold — not warm
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a music group
  6. chair — a leader
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bank — of a river
  9. net — after costs
  10. tube — the underground
  11. net — for catching
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bark — to shout
  14. file — a tool
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. file — a document
  18. bank — for money
  19. file — a line of people
  20. tube — a container
  21. bank — for money
  22. net — in sport
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. bark — of a tree

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