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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: band · straw · present · wind · tube · cold · root · land

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. root — the cause
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. present — the time now
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. cold — an illness
  7. tube — a container
  8. band — a music group
  9. root — of a plant
  10. wind — moving air
  11. present — there
  12. wind — moving air
  13. band — a ring
  14. land — ground
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. land — to come down
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. tube — the underground
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. land — a country
  22. present — a gift
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. root — of a word

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